Shirley Kraft Gustafson

I remember the E.T. puzzle you bought me for Christmas.
I remember you taking me to Play World when I got good grades.
I remember the BIG rock you kept in your car - just in case someone tried to take your parking spot, you could throw it through their window.
I remember sitting next to you playing the piano and eating goock. (I wish I would've asked you how to spell that!)
I remember your funny toes and the story about "ducks up to here!!"
I remember you...

What joy Shirley brought to our lives.
A shining example of how to live a life full of caring, love, good sense, laughter, 101 ways to diet, and music.
Christmas will not pass without happy memories of our musical family celebrating the season together.
I miss the warmth of your smile.

Our mother died on a Tuesday afternoon in August. My sister and I were at her side, all of us holding hands.

I never called mom mother. As a little boy she was mommy and thereafter it was mom. But during her last days I found myself calling her mommy again; my beautiful, precious mommy.

Mom was a nurse. She was proud of that. Over the course of her career she tended to hundreds of patients. She kept her state license active even after she retired. She loved being...

My mother gave my brother and me a magical childhood. Under her spell, paper bags became treasure maps; wooden spoons, puppets; goldfish never died; and, every afternoon was an occassion for music.

There was no one like her. The power of her imagination and humor was such that she saw possibilities for fun and laughter in every thing and every situation.

So, it may seem strange to say that she also gave us a sense of the seriousness of life, although she was...

Shirley was a member of the Dieter's Association of Florida, Inc. for twenty years. The Association put on an amateur show each year for four years at the Dade County Auditorium. Shirley was one of the major stars.

Asked by the Director to develop an act that could be used when needed, Shirley did just that year after year. She made her own costumes, designed her own makeup, etc. Her efforts brought the house down. One of her best performances was in a costume borrowed from the...