Shirley Marie (Parrott) Jorgensen was born July 17, 1932 and passed away on her 92nd birthday (July 17, 2014) at the Friendship Home in Audubon. She was born in Atlantic, Iowa, the ninth out of ten children to Horace (Hod) and Vera (Newport) Parrott.
As a child she often worked at two or three jobs: paper routes, the movie theatre and detasseling along with doing things for the neighbors in Atlantic. After meeting Lloyd Jorgensen at the Atlantic roller arena they were married on August 27, 1949, she married Lloyd and moved to Audubon. They were married 65 years before Lloyd’s death in 2014. After being married she quickly embraced life on the farm and became a true farmwife. She cooked for men, milked cows and helped with all the other chores, all to assist and help on the farm.
For many years she also worked in town at the meat locker and grocery store. Along with those things she always had an immaculate house which had homemade breads and goodies to enjoy. She crocheted many afghans, table clothes and doilies, but also enjoyed playing cards. Often you would find her in the Our Saviour’s Lutheran’s kitchen. In 1967, she was named Audubon County’s Homemaker of Year by the Audubon County Extension Family Living Committee as well as serving as the chairperson of that committee and was a 4-H leader. In her younger years she was also active with the church women and the Farm Bureau. She enjoyed her family, friends and life on the farm but also enjoyed her family’s activities-especially Lloyd’s stock car racing. Racing was enjoyed so much that she drove Lloyd’s race car several times which resulted in an accident and a large scar on one arm. Rarely would she talk about the scar and how she got it. The lady’s neighborhood club that lasted until it was a group of four, with Shirley being the last surviving member, was always something she enjoyed. Bird watching and feeding them was always one of her favorite pastimes as well as going to the Redwoods in Anita and having a pink squirrel on her birthday and going to get ice cream whenever possible. In later years she enjoyed being part of the Red Hats, bowling and always enjoyed going to coffee. Shirley took pride at being very independent and doing things her way, this made the last few years harder for her. Even then she always let her feelings known.
Preceding her in death were her parents and all of her siblings and in-laws (being the last one for many years was difficult for her): Denny (Peggy) Parrott, Shorty/Burdette (Peggy) Parrott, Maxine Bruner, Tuffy/Lynn Parrott, Ruby (Bill) Milhoulin, Twila (Don) Worthington, Mildred (Joe) Casey, Norene Jones, and Zoe (Earl) Beltz. Also preceding her in death from Lloyd’s family are H.P. and Carrie Jorgensen (in-laws), H.P Jorgensen Jr. (Jane), Franklin Jorgensen, Sharlene (Mike) Jensen, Louie Murray, Kent Walters, Beatrice Jorgensen, Yvonne Staples, Patricia Schurer, Eric John (Audrey) Jorgensen, Nadine Jorgensen and Geneva (LaVerne) Krauel. Several nieces and nephews also preceded her in death.
Surviving her are her three children: Frank (Vickie) Jorgensen of Granger, Debbie Jo (Jeff) Hamling of Council Bluffs, and David (Kathleen) Jorgensen of Des Moines. She also leaves eight grandchildren: Angie(Chad)Bush, Kris (Jerrod) Sieverding, Kati (Ryan) Anderson, Sarah Jo (Bart) Boehm, Beth (Phil) Manley, Allyson Jorgensen, Amanda Jorgensen and Caleb Jorgensen. She also leaves seven great grandchildren. Along with her family she leaves two special friends that have been like family the last few years: Gloria Ahrens and Kevin Christensen and many nieces and nephews and many close friends that were very important to her.
Funeral Services will be at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 22, 2024, at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Audubon, with Pastor Chris Townsend officiating. Burial will follow at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Audubon. A luncheon will be held in the church fellowship hall following the burial.
The family will greet friends from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 21, 2024, at the Schmidt Family Funeral Home in Audubon.
Memorial contributions may be directed to Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church or the Friendship Home in Shirley’s name and may be mailed in care of Schmidt Family Funeral Home P.O Box 201 Audubon, IA 50025.
The Schmidt Family Funeral Home of Audubon is Caring for the Jorgensen family at this time.
