Simmons, Shirley A.

WALKER - Shirley A. Simmons, 83, of Walker, died Thursday evening, Oct. 7, 2010, at West Village Care Center, Independence. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Walker, with the Rev. Ardel Barta officiating. Burial will be in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Spencer's Grove. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Reiff Funeral Home, Quasqueton, where a rosary will be recited at 4 p.m.

Shirley was born Aug. 31, 1927, in Independence, Iowa, the daughter of Raymond R. and Irene E. (Weber) Strang. She was a 1945 graduate of the Walker High School and received her registered nursing degree from Mercy School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids in 1948. She was employed with Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids for a couple of years. On June 26, 1950, she was united in marriage to Jay W. Simmons in Walker. In 1971, Shirley became employed with Peoples Memorial Hospital in Independence until her retirement in 1992.

She is survived by her husband, Jay Simmons, Walker;, three children, Jeanie (Roger) Sturtz, Urbana, Barbara Simmons, North Wales, Pa., and Jake Simmons, Walker; two granddaughters, Peggy Coleson, Cedar Rapids, and Amelia Wood, North Wales, Pa.; a great-grandson, Carter Coleson; and two sisters, Mary Jane Gustoff, Center Point, and Sharon Drahozal, Solon. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; a son, Tony Simmons; and a sister, Patricia Frederick.

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