Shirley (Hale) JOHNSTON

JOHNSTON, HALE, THOMPSON, GINAPP, BARTA, HALE, GRENKO, KLEEN, SANDAGE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/13/2014 at 20:41:54

April 23, 1927 --- August 29, 2014

Shirley Johnston, 87, of Belmond, IA, passed away Friday morning, August 29, 2014 at the Iowa River Hospice Home in Marshalltown with her family at her side. Memorial services for Shirley will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 11th at the Belmond United Methodist Church. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. until service time at the church. Inurnment services will be held after the memorial service and luncheon at Oakland Cemetery in Forest City, IA. The Mitchell Family Funeral Home in Marshalltown and the Andrews Funeral Home (Shirley and Chip’s funeral home in Belmond) are caring for Shirley and her family.

Shirley was born April 23, 1927 in Ellsworth, IA to Truman and Cora (Thompson) Hale. After graduation from Ellsworth High School, Shirley attended a year of college at Waldorf and then transferred to Rochester, MN to pursue her nursing degree where she received her cap. Before she could continue on though in the profession, she met the love of her life, Maynard Johnston, and married him in the Trinity Lutheran Church in Ellsworth on June 2, 1946. They moved there where they also owned Johnston Furniture Store. A few years later they owned and operated a Johnston Funeral Home in Klemme, IA also. Shirley was the right hand woman who handled all the details while Chip was working at all three businesses. It was a labor of love for them and they so enjoyed all the wonderful families they met over the years.

In 1970, Maynard passed away suddenly and Shirley sold the businesses, but ran them for a couple of months before she moved to her new home. Shirley enjoyed becoming a volunteer and met so many wonderful people who she would drive to their doctor’s appointments. Then she spent many years caring for her parents who lived in Story City. Finally, she stayed with her sister-in-law Betty to take her to her appointments in Iowa City. She was truly the family nurse. Her faith and sense of compassion were important to her in working with people.

Left to cherish Shirley’s memory are her daughter, Nancy (Ron) Ginapp, Marshalltown, and grandchildren, Nick (Cassie) Ginapp, Crete, NE; Stacey (Michael) Barta, Granger; and Brad Ginapp of Quantico, VA. She adored them and was really thrilled about watching her five great-grandchildren grow up. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law Carol Grenko Hale of Gladstone, Missouri; Sylvia Kleen of North Mankato; Toni Johnston of Osage and her brothers-in-law Jim Kleen of North Mankato and Duane Sandage of West Des Moines. She has some very dear nieces and nephews who she loved immensely as well as many close and lifelong friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Chip, her parents Truman and Cora Hale of Story City, her brothers Robert, William, and Richard; her brothers–in-law Bob Johnston and Virgil Johnston; and her sisters-in-law Betty Hale, Mary Hale, Mildred Johnston, Alpha Sandage, and Florence Johnston. Memorials can be directed to the United Methodist Church in Belmond, the Iowa River Hospice House in Marshalltown, or the Youth and Shelter Services, Inc. of Iowa.

http://www.mitchellfh.com/sitemaker/sites/MITCHE2/obit.cgi?user=1391103Johnston