Obituary of Shirley Mae Joan McNABB

August 28, 1929 – Kindersley, Saskatchewan
July 26, 2021 – Calgary, Alberta

With profound sadness we announce the passing of our beloved Mother, Grandma and GG, Shirley McNabb on Monday, July 26, 2021. We are very grateful for her 92 years of life; she was the rock of our family! 

Shirley was born on August 28, 1929 to Mildred and Stanley Murdoch in Kindersley, SK. She spent her early years on the farm that her father homesteaded near Pinkham, SK. She had many interesting stories of going to school in an open wagon or sled. The 1930’s and 40’s were hard years on the farm. Shirley’s mother decided to open a hair salon in Rosetown, taking Shirley with her while her dad and brother (Beverly) stayed on the farm. Hair salons were not well used at the time so eventually they returned to the farm. Later her mother took her to Alsask, SK, where her mother worked on the telephone switchboard. Her mother was a good seamstress and sewed all of their clothes. Shirley watched closely and decided she could sew too. When she was around seven years old her grandmother gave her an old skirt that Shirley cut up the middle and then hand sewed it into a pair of pants. Her mother was horrified but her Grandma thought she was very clever and talented. Shirley became very good at sewing by the time she was a teenager; she once took used material to fashion herself a stylish pair of slacks. Her mother was mad, more so because women and girls did not wear pants in those days.  Shirley also sewed many clothes for her children, including great Halloween costumes. When her eldest daughter Carol was married, she sewed three bridesmaid dresses and one for the flower girl. One of her more recent project was crafting and sewing a canopy for her garden swing. 

Shirley spent her teen years in Alsask, and was busy and active including playing on the woman’s softball team. She excelled at school, and was proud of winning an award in a provincial essay writing contest. She received life long compliments on her writing. She worked at a local store filling weekly orders from the farmers who came to town. She was very good with sums and could add faster in her head than the owners’ adding machine. She was also adept at using the machine and in her early twenties travelled to Calgary on her own and took a five months comptometer course, becoming very proficient.

It was while living in Alsask that Shirley met her future husband Bud McNabb. They married and moved to Calgary to start a family. They eventually had seven children. Bud worked for Canadian Pacific Transport. Shirley started to work a variety of part time jobs to help with finances. When Canada Post decided to hire women, Shirley applied and became one of the first women in Calgary to work for Canada Post. She enjoyed her co-workers, worked hard and believed in doing the best you could at any job.  This resulted in her winning a “Silver Postmark” a top award for “Exceptional Achievement” in 1991. 

Shirley and Bud bought a small house in Calgary, where all seven children lived. When they had “only” four children left at home they bought a larger house. With a large house, large family gatherings were now possible. They started a tradition of yearly backyard Stampede breakfasts with her famous pancakes and fruit salad. Everyone was welcome and they hosted many guests. Shirley continued these breakfasts after Bud’s passing for several years. Shirley also had traditional sit down thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners. With her children growing and grandchildren joining, it was not unusual to have more than twenty-five people. Extended family, in-laws, friends, everyone was welcome. In later years, she had more help with the dinners, but she was the planner, organizer and was famous for her “lists”. She always had lists for everything that needed to be done. Covid put the final stop to dinners! Shirley was always thinking ahead for planning celebrations. She organized many parties including three 25th wedding anniversaries for her family, which she planned for months, putting so much love and attention into making events absolutely perfect and always having a beautiful heart felt speech to top it off!

After twenty-five years of working, Shirley retired and became a full time grandma to the ever increasing number of grandchildren. She had an unwavering love and affection for her grandkids. She supported them in all their endeavors and sports. Along with her daughter Patti, there were no bigger fans in the stands or audience. She became GG to her great-grandchildren and continued the love and support. Shirley loved flowers and was very proud of her flower and vegetable garden. She kept busy maintaining her house and garden. This was the first year she wasn’t able to garden in forty-five years. She always had a project to work on, everything from researching and designing her kitchen, renovating to painting, wall papering and building things. She said in her next life she would like to come back as a carpenter. Anyone who worked on a   project with her knows how organized and particular she was. It had to be done a certain way, her way. Patti and Shirley did several projects over many years. There was always a new one to plan for.

From a young age, mom was always stylish. She was always up to date on fashion and having weekly hair appointments. She always looked her best whenever she was going out for dinner, fancy functions or just going to the grocery store. Shirley’s family feels privileged to have had her as our mother and grandmother. She had a beautiful vision of how to live life to the fullest. She touched many people with her kind and gentle disposition. We learned many things from her including “A place for everything and everything in its place”. She will be so dearly missed.

Mom had a heart full of love and kindness; she was adored by her family, Carol, Leslie (Pieter), Debbie, Ken (Dianne), Lolly (Norm), Jim, and Patti, twenty grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren. Shirley was predeceased by her husband Kenneth (Bud) McNabb, the love of her life.    

Shirley requested no funeral service but with her love for big family gatherings there will be a Celebration of her Life at Glamorgan Community Centre on September 26, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. for friends and family. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Shirley’s obituary at www.McInnisandHolloway.com. If friends so desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to Hope for Dementia Research, www.canadahelps.org.

In living memory of Shirley McNabb, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.