Shirley M. Moore

Shirley Moore, age 71, of Madison, died Saturday, December 28, 2019, at Bethel Lutheran Home. Memorial services will be 11:00 AM, Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Madison. Inurnment will follow at Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will be 5-7 PM, Tuesday, January 7, at Ellsworth Funeral Home.

Shirley Marie Hockett was born in Madison, South Dakota on April 19th, 1948 to Elsie and Frank Hockett.  With her birth, she became the youngest and last child of Elsie and Frank’s combined fifteen children.  She was raised on Fourth Street in Madison, in the same house she lived in throughout most of her life.  She attended Garfield Elementary where she earned her first honorary title, Posture Princess.  She graduated in 1966 from Madison High School, attending classes in both the old and new high school buildings.  While attending school, she developed a lifelong love for playing music, especially performing in the marching band with her clarinet.  She attended South Dakota State University and graduated in 1970 from the Sioux Falls School of Practical Nursing.  She then began fulfilling her life’s purpose to providing love, comfort and nursing care to everyone she met. 

Shirley’s life was filled with joy and adventure!  As a young nurse she moved to Hawaii and California, working at Pearl Harbor in HI and Scripps Hospital in San Diego.  She returned to Madison and her childhood home to raise her two children, Nathan and Matthew.  Her next adventure was to open her own in home daycare where she shared her love and cared for hundreds of children.  As her children grew, she again returned to nursing, this time to help the developmentally disabled at ECCO in Madison, forging special bonds with each member.  Beyond nursing, Shirley had a passion for food and cooking!  She pursued her love of food as a sous chef at the Sheraton in Sioux Falls, SD and by opening her own restaurant in Madison, Masons on Main, in the former Madison Masonic Temple.  When this adventure closed, she returned to her calling to serve others as a nurse.  Always drawn to serve our most vulnerable, she would serve the remainder of her career caring Madison’s elderly and family members at Heritage Assisted Living, the Golden Living nursing home and the Bethel Lutheran nursing home.  

In addition to her care for others, her greatest joy came from her role as a mother and grandmother.  She loved supporting and cheering for all children in her church, Madison schools and the community.  She ensured her children and grandchildren were raised with a foundation in faith at Trinity Lutheran church.  She served on the Madison school board for nearly 20 years, originally called to keep Garfield school open.  She was often the first parent to arrive and the last parent to leave for her children’s sporting events.  At church, in school or in sports, Shirley was a mother to anyone in need.

Shirley is survived by: her brothers Charles and Wayne Hines; her grandchildren Nadine, Everett, Drew, Greenlee, Bodhi, Colter, Avery, Carter and Flynn; her son Nathan and daughter in law Danella; numerous nieces, nephews and their families.

She is preceded in death by her parents Grace (Elsie) and Francis (Frank), sisters Evelyn, Millie, Jackie and Patti, brothers Leslie, Emery, Ernie, Dick, Harold, Ron, Murray and Francis (Dude), and her son Matthew. 

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