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Shirley Walters Wiley

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Bellaire High School Kinkaid School Rice University University of Houston

Shirley Wiley Obituary

SHIRLEY WALTERS WILEY, teacher, artist, loving wife, mother and grandmother, 89, died on July 7th at The Hampton Senior Living Facility in Houston. She was loved and admired as a classroom teacher who used literature, creative writing, and art to inspire the "burgeoning minds" of legions of upper school students in five Houston schools over a 50 year career in. She was untroubled by classroom convention and was among the avant-garde in teaching methods, employing innovative means to foster in her students a love of the written word She is survived by her son Lee Walters Wiley and his wife Janis as well as her grandchildren Lee Justin Wiley and Genevieve Danielle Wiley Saenz and her husband, Aaron Saenz. Shirley was born in Denver to John and Cressle Gottschalk Walters but, after her mother's death when Shirley was six years old, she was raised by her aunts. She received her BA in Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas, Austin where she met Lee Grandison Wiley whom she married just as World War II began. During the war, while her husband fought in Okinawa and served in the Army of Occupation in Japan, Shirley worked for the war effort by inspecting bombs, doing clerical work, and, eventually, teaching When the war was over, the couple moved to Houston, where her husband began his career in insurance and real estate development. Shirley began teaching at Reagan High School, and earned a Masters Degree from the University of Houston She was recruited to the newly opened Bellaire High School, being appointed Chair of the English Department. While at Bellaire she established the first major works English classes, created and taught the first humanities courses, and was sponsor of a creative writing class and of the National Honor Society. Rice University pulled her away from HISD for a short time to teach education but she was lured back into HISD to set up the curricula and teach at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She always felt that the work at HSPVA was her, "perfect job" because it combined her love for art, music, drama, and English. After two years at HSPVA, she became the Chairman of their English department at the Kinkaid school, where she retired after 20 years in 1995. Shirley was also a consultant and speaker for the National Council of Teachers of English, a member of the Literature Committee for the College Board, a reader for Advanced Placement in English and for the Educational Testing Service and wrote several English textbooks. Also at Kinkaid, she was a member of Cum Laude, served as sponsor of Falcon Wings the Kinkaid year book. Kinkaid also honored her with the Columbiana Award, a laurel granted to their finest teacher in a Kinkaid year. After her retirement from Kinkaid, Wiley created an adult writing course to teach a technique of writing an autobiography in a course named "Writing a Living Legacy". It was in this course, offered at both Kinkaid and at the Women's Institute, that many parents of former students saw first hand the genius of her teaching methods that their children had been raving about for years. Every student received praise for some part of their composition making the constructive criticism that followed seem to be a praiseful nudge. Glenn Ballard, her headmaster at Kinkaid who awarded her the Columbiana Award, said in describing Shirley Wiley "Attractive and eloquent, knowing and wise, witty and unselfconscious, Shirley Wiley sparked interest and attention; and, inevitably, respect and admiration. Students relished Mrs. Wiley's classes--'Like going to a marvelous stage show in which the audience are attentive and enthusiastic participants,' a former student noted. But those classes were more than entertainment. Mrs. Wiley knew her craft. She was engaging and telling, challenging and demanding, encouraging always but intolerant of nonsense." A memorial service for Shirley Wiley will be held at the Unity Church of Christianity, 2929 Unity Drive at Hillcroft (in the Pyramid) on July 29th at 11:00 AM with a reception following at the home of Lee and Janis Wiley In lieu of flowers, please send donations in memory of Shirley W. Wiley to the charity of your choice.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Houston Chronicle on Jul. 19, 2009.

Memories and Condolences
for Shirley Wiley

Sponsored by M. Michael Shabot, MD (a student).

32 Entries

Sarah Merin

December 29, 2024

I had Mrs Wiley for senior year English at Kincaid High School (1984). She was one of the best teachers I ever had (as so many others have said). Certainly the most memorable. I learned more from her than any other. I recall specific teachings to this day- "the ten fundamental principles of writing). Learn the rules and then you may also break them for specific reasons. Form follows function. So much more. I thought of her today when listening to a wonderful podcast on T.S. Eliot. Specifically The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock. I had no idea when I first read, but now I recall it in great detail- have quoted in my head so many times and it has given me such pleasure. "Let us go then, you and I/ While evening is spread out against the sky/like a patient etherized on a table.." Hopefully that's correct.
Condolences to all her family. As you know, a truly brilliant and remarkable person. I wish had seen her one more time. Sincerely, Sarah Louise Merin [email protected]

Sharon Lynn

March 8, 2020

Shirley Wiley is the reason that I found a career in writing. She was my advanced creative writing English teacher at Bellaire High School in the late 1960s. I had a huge vocabulary that I used to fool my teachers into thinking I was smart, but Shirley Wiley could not be fooled. On an assignment to write a paragraph describing a glass of water, she gave me a grade of "D" and showed me how to polish and polish my writing until it sparkled. I write creatively only for myself but found a professional niche in technical editing and writing, first in aerospace, editing and publishing the reports of engineers who analyzed the Shuttle for manned, international NASA missions, and later, standards and guidelines for the oil and gas industry. At an anniversary party for Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP) at Angelica Theatre, I was a volunteer who was tasked with chatting up attendees who came by themselves. I sat down next to a woman who introduced herself as Shirley Wiley and slowly I realized who she was. "Oh, my God!" I exclaimed. "You are the reason I found a career in technical editing and writing." At my wedding last Saturday I was in the kitchen and heard my first cousin talking about his Bellaire High School English teacher, Shirley Wiley. He encouraged me to come to this memorial site and leave a message.

July 22, 2019

I had "Mrs. Wiley" one semester as my English teacher at Bellaire High School in 1960, and in that short time she opened my eyes and my mind and my heart to literature. I have just published a book of poetry, which would not have happened had she not been a part of my life. I would like to send a copy to you, if you could send me a mailing address.
Don Herzberg
[email protected]
Norwich, Vermont

Genevieve

April 7, 2014

Shirley, always "Shirley" never "grandma", was my grandmother. I feel privileged and awed as I read through all these entries and realize how many lives she touched. Thank you, to each of you, for sharing these pieces of her that I never fully knew. I often envy her students because it seems they received a precise well crafted love from my brilliant grandmother. She would not have called it love, but I do. Love is simply seeing and calling out the potential in the other. She did that every day of her life.
Now that I am a teacher, I aspire to be as good at the art of loving as Mrs. Shirley Wiley was.

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May 4, 2013

I have wondered for a long time what had happened to Mrs. Wiley. Someone just directed me to this obituary. I write now with some trepidation that my writing will not meet her very high standards. Mrs. Wiley is the only teacher I can remember from my high school days at Bellaire (class of 1965). Because she was so tough on my writing, my college English classes were a piece of cake. I will never forget the essay I had to write to describe a glass of water. She did not mean a decorated glass of water--just a plain glass of clear water. I don't remember how many times I had to rewrite that essay. I am overwhelmed at what a full and meaningful life Mrs. Wiley accomplished.

Allan Foodym

April 12, 2013

I think about Mrs. Wiley often, since "she taught me how to read and how to write." I didn't much like having to do a daily piece of original writing, whether a version of a Charles Lamb essay or free verse. Sometimes I was still writing or editing on the school bus to 1960's Bellaire High. I often polished a final draft in homeroom. Every morning my honors English class turned in our efforts of the "previous evening" to Mrs. Wiley.
Then we went on to spend a little less than an hour studying the classics,the essayists or modern poetry, learning "how to read and how to write." One day I came in at lunch to ask about a recommendation for something. I found Mrs. Wiley going through that morning's efforts from my class, cackling madly as she read our efforts, as she ate her lunch out of a brown bag. I didn't appreciate how much I had learned from that process until later in life. Writing at university was a "piece of cake." I had a career cranking out proposals and reports for aerospace, business, transportation and so on, recording my efforts as a chemist and then systems analyst. And because of Mrs. Wiley's admonition to "edit until the sentences squeaked," my first drafts were always "bloody."
Now I'm 'mostly retired' and working a few days a week as a substitute teacher (at Northwood High, almost as good as Bellaire). One of the reporters of the school newspaper wants to do an article on the substitute teachers. She had sent me a list of questions to answer. I carried the printout of my e-mail draft reply and edited it as I took lunch break between classes. The printout was covered with red-ink
corrections. One of the questions was 'what person had the biggest impact on your life.' I, of course, had written in 'My high-school English teacher,Mrs. Wiley, who did a great, but not sufficient job.' I wandered
in to my room-of-the-day and 'googled'
"Shirley Wiley Houston Texas. That's when I found last July's Chronicle obituary. Thanks for changing my, and countless others' lives.

Gayla

April 7, 2012

Shirlley went to UT with my parents. In the 1940's she and Big Lee & Little Lee lived upstairs from us in a duplex on Eagle in Houston. Then later we moved to Bellaire. All us Schwarting kids went to Bellaire while Shirley was a teacher there. Though Shirley was never my school teacher, I will always remember her as a fun and fascinating neighbor. My father painted a portrait of Shirley, so her beautiful face is forever etched in my mind. May the God of all comfort, comfort Lee & the whole family.
With Love, Gayla Schwarting Jansen

Robert Mark Megna

April 6, 2011

I was a teacher in the Foreign Language Department at HSPVA when Shirley taught there. Although I only knew her briefly, I remember her fondly and could easily see what a remarkable teacher she was! Shirley was an inspiration to everyone! It was the policy of Ruth Denney, the founder of HSPVA, to hire the best and the brightest for the fledgling High School for the
Performing and Visual Arts and Shirley exemplified that perfectly! Rest in Peace, beloved educator and generous mentor to the minds of so many people!

Karen Zoldan Hough

August 18, 2010

Seeing me slide in under the deadline would have made Mrs. Wiley smile. I can imagine her nodding and saying. "You certainly haven't changed...."

It was Mrs. Wiley's gift to see her students as we were, to take our measure and to foster in us a sense of our worthwhileness. It was how, in my case, she was able to assess the cost to me of four schools in three years and to find ways to allow me to feel visible. An example: She appeared in class one Monday and gave me a book of John Donne's poetry. She had seen the book in an airport bookstore, she said, and had thought of me.

Despite this and all the many kindnesses she showed me, it never occurred to me to think of myself as one of her favorites. Mrs. Wiley didn't have favorites. She had students, and we were all there for the business at hand: to explore ideas as expressed in language and literature.

And explore we did. Whole worlds opened up for us. I remember the excitement of being introduced to existentialism and theater of the absurd; the pleasure of decoding the thematic content of a novel or poem.

Mrs. Wiley was, in sum, quite simply the best teacher I have ever encountered. She helped her students to order our inner world, and she taught us about the outer world in ways that added immeasurably to our appreciation and understanding of that world.

Amy Boynton

July 31, 2010

It's been said that living well is the best revenge… if the true measure of a life is numbered in terms of souls touched, then not only did Shirley live well, but was much loved and mourned by the many souls for whom her touch was light to our darkness.
RIP Shirley.

Rosalie Cumbie

June 13, 2010

Dear Lee and family, Shirley and I met in art school at the University of Texas in 19 40, had classes together, maintained our friendship, and
graduated in the 1st graduation class from the Fine Arts Department
in art in June 1942. She was not only a talented artist, in those years, she was a free spirited, devoted individual that inspired and shared
her talent, her knowledge, and her compasion for us, her fellow students. She was a unique individual! Having been separated by
war activities, during the years following our graduation, we happened to meet unexpectedly on Alameda Street in Houston..with
each of us pushing a stroller with our baby boys....young Lee and my young Stan McCormick. This was 1947, I think. We kept in touch from
time to time through the years with my moving to Austin in 1977. We
met at The Umlauf 's home and at other U.T. functions from time to time and it was always like we'd never missed a beat. The last time
that I was with Shirley, was in Houston in 2006. I attended a CASETA
meeting at The Omni Hotel on Post Oak, not far from whereshe was staying. She had had a stroke, but was, as usual, persevering , and
in good spirits and handling her slight handicap beautifully. I picked her up and we had a delightful lunch with other people that she knew who were attending the "art" meeting with me. My husband had a bout with cancer shortly after that and I lost touch with Shirley....no cards at Christmas, etc. but, today I decided to look her up on my computer and there it was: Shirley's obit. What can I say, except that I have been wondering about her and missing her. She was one remarkable individual, a dear friend that I will never forget. Lee, just
letting you know that my husband, Irv, and I thought the world of your mother and had great admiration as well as love for her.
We are both sorry to have lost out on the past few years. Incidentally,
I have a little blue and white rice bowl that she and your father gave
me in about 1947. Your father had found it during the war, while in
Japan. Let me know ,if you would like to have it. I'll close for now. I've
written too much, too long, but I hope you know how much your mother meant to me. I hope that you receive this letter.
With my best regards, Rosalie Brown Cumbie [Our e-mail...... [email protected]]

M. Michael Shabot, MD

May 20, 2010

Shirley Wiley was the most remarkable teacher I would ever encounter. Of course it wasn't possible for me to know that back then, in Bellaire High School, as my education had barely begun. But I and everyone in her class knew that she was different, that she taught her own way, and it was something of an honor just to be in her classroom. She taught for the pure joy of teaching, every day. How could we know that college English would pale in comparison?

I have no doubt it was Shirley Wiley's influence that made me a lifelong reader and writer. No matter how long my day might be, and many are very long, I simply have to read before resting. When I write, and complete the Nth rewrite, I think I'm still polishing the work for Shirley. It wasn't that she was a perfectionist, she just brought out the best in her students.

But the real question is: how did she make it last? I was so lucky to have known her.

M. Michael Shabot, MD and Bellaire High School 1963

Linda Clifton

November 4, 2009

From the very first day in Shirley Wiley’s English class at the brand new Bellaire High School, she engaged me and my classmates in a serious and exciting encounter with the literatures and cultures that make us who we are as Americans in this century. Both strict and open-minded, her example became my touchstone in my own lifelong career as an English teacher, writer, and teacher of teachers. She invited us to her home for discussions, she fostered our publication of a creative writing magazine, Scarlet Scroll, she used Kabuki drama to engage us with Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” she showed us the human conversation and made us want to contribute our own voices to that 6000-year exchange. She encouraged my poetry, and I’m still writing and publishing. She showed us how to organize a publication, and, years later, that experience informed my publishing Crab Creek Review, a literary magazine now more than twenty years old.

I still remember the humanities class exam in which she asked us to write a Socratic dialogue discussing which of the humanities was “the greatest”–I still remember writing non-stop in a rapid flow of thought duplicated only when I came to write a Shakespeare exam in college and my Ph.D. exams. And I remember the last time I had a chance to learn from her, when I visited Houston a few years ago and she took me to see the Turrell Tunnel, introducing me to this artist of light of whom I’d never heard.

Thank you, Shirley, for all you’ve given through your long and beautiful life, and to your family who shared you with us, your students.
Linda Robinson Clifton, Ph.D. and BHS 1957

Lester Bronstein

August 16, 2009

Mrs. Wiley influenced me more than any educator I encountered through my childhood. I can still see the faces of my fellow Major Works English and Humanities students at Bellaire High School as Shirley Wiley brought us to self-recognition. She taught us to see. She taught us to be unafraid of passion. She taught us to love both art and truth. She has been my model and muse throughout my own career in teaching. I am so sad at her passing, and so very grateful to have learned from her life.

Lester Bronstein
White Plains, NY

Michael Edwards

August 12, 2009

My sincerest condolences go out to her family and intimates. I think of Mrs. Wiley every time I:

- listen to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band;
- watch Apocalypse Now;
- read any of half a dozen of my favorite authors, especially Vonnegut and Heller;
- look back into the (quite slim) folder of creative writing that I've chosen to keep; or
- discuss literature with my young daughter, who is in the early stages of learning to read, but is already fascinated with how stories and songs and ideas are reshaped and repurposed from generation to generation.

This doesn't begin to capture her influence on my life and mind; but that essay wouldn't fit in the frame available. She must have taught several thousand students in her career. I stand in awe of the legacy that implies.

"Nothing of her that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange."

Kinkaid Class of 1988

Elizabeth Carl

August 8, 2009

Thanks to her family for sharing her with so many students and friends over the years, and now in this time of loss -- she was proud of you, and even in the last few years shared with me her pride in Lee's new professional ventures and her excitement at Genevieve and Aaron's marriage. Before there were Transformers of a science-fiction kind, there was the real transformation Shirley Wiley accomplished in every classroom with her loving soul and her innovative way of teaching writing as the entry point to learning about literature and (gasp) grammar.

Catherine Carl Wakelyn

August 7, 2009

Shirley Wiley taught me how to read & write, how to analyze & criticize, how to appreciate. She instilled in me a sense of the possible. I had other good teachers, but none quite so magical.
She also wore the most amazing shoes! I think all of us in her classes (I graduated from Bellaire in 1960) were thrilled that learning could be so glamorous.

Anne Kushwaha

July 29, 2009

I have just heard the sad news. The funny thing is that two days ago I was thinking about what a wonderful teacher she was in my life full of teachers. I graduated Kinkaid in 1984. Mrs. Wiley was the main teacher who helped me with my college applications including the 9 essays for Dartmouth (my alma mater). She made English fun and taught us how to analyze literature. I am glad to have been touched by her.

Alan J. Hurwitz, MD

July 26, 2009

I was fortunate to be a student in Shirley Wiley's Senior Major Works English class at Bellaire HIgh School in 1968. She taught us to read critically, to write clearly, and to communicate directly. She introduced us to Dante and Cervantes, Joyce and Faulkner. She had a fantastic sense of humor. She connected with each of her students as individuals. She had a no-nonsense way about her, and yet her classes were not only challenging but also fun.

She was highly individuated, and encouraged each of us to develop our own true self. I feel fortunate to have had her as a teacher and as a friend. I pray that God grants her Eternal Peace, and that her memory will be a blessing to her family and for all of us who loved her.

Cynthia Glass Bivins

July 22, 2009

What a wonderful educator Shirley Wiley was! I was privileged to have her for a teacher at HSPVA (72-74). She managed to corral our excitement about the arts (and life in general) and helped us create literary art while teaching us English. Thoughts of her bring a smile to my face. My deepest sympathy to her family.

Cynthia Glass Bivins

James Madison Cox

July 22, 2009

I am grateful for my years ('72-'74) in Shirley's class at HSPVA. She introduced us to a broad world of thought and culture not limited to literature, and to a "Renaissance" way of thinking that was also aggressively modern. She took a keen interest in our adolescent turmoils and helped to guide us through them. Her perspective on almost everything was hers alone. Her influence will continue to be felt in more ways than we can begin to explain -- except perhaps to others who knew her. It is comforting to know that her many students will continue to talk about Shirley Wiley for years to come.

Carol Fulmore

July 21, 2009

Shirley was not bound by the conventions of the classroom. She encouraged risk taking as a form of growth. When I was a 15-year-old in her sophomore English class at Reagan, she told me to skip school, take the bus downtown, and see "Dual in the Sun," considered a racy movie at the time. How I escaped punishment I don't recall, but as scary as it was for a non-rebellious teen, I did it! We remained close friends for 60 years, and once I overcame my awe, confidantes. Neither she nor I thought she would ever die. I am devestated.

July 21, 2009

Shirley, I love you so much and thank you for the gifts you gave me: a love of literature and writing, the confidence to believe that what I write has value, to find the strength to fulfill my commitments, and the ability to find humor in any situation life throws at you. What a tremendous teacher and tremendous woman you are that students you taught in the beginning of your career at Reagan and students you taught near the end of your career at Kinkaid love you equally, appreciate you equally, and will miss you and the gift you have been in all of our lives. May you find peace and reclaim good health as you cross to the Summerlands. Catherine Criswell

Julietta Parra Ducote

July 20, 2009

My deepest sympathy to the family. I will always remember Shirley. She was in my writing class and shared with us her poetry. She became a friend for many years and it was a joy to spend time together while drinking coffee and talking about poetry. Here is an excerpt of a poem I wrote to Shirley.
"While we are in our cocoons we have no control. Suddenly I see butterflies and one of them is My dear Shirley.."
Her spirit will be always with me.

Mary Jane Sinclair

July 20, 2009

Mrs. Wiley was the first teacher to obtain SAT prep material for her students at HSPVA in 1972. She was witty, stylish and taught me the economy of words. Her red pen edited my worse prose but circled my best efforts. She was a student's best friend and this author's mentor.

Donna Bennett

July 20, 2009

Mrs. Wiley at HSPVA, encouraged us all to perform to our full potential and succeed. Imagination shared no limits, when able to correspond perceptions in producing a dream into real concepts. In the celebration of her life which she and her family permitted us to share, may we rejoice for the moments she brought to so many the gift of the strength of a pen.

samantha schnee

July 20, 2009

She was a truly radical chick, and will be missed terribly.
Samantha Schnee
Kinkaid School '88

Lisa DeBerardino Hassler

July 19, 2009

My thoughts and prayers are with those who are still here, while she has gone on before us. Mrs. Wiley was a rare teacher, who wore amazing caftans to class and then made us read poetry. And then took the time to listen to what we thought about what we had just read. And then made us write about what we read and then write it again. It wasn't about perfection, it was about imagination and insight. She was an innovator and a motivator to her students. Thank you Mrs. Wiley for your "gift".
HSPVA graduate 1974

Mark Holden

July 19, 2009

Having studied with Mrs. Wiley at HSPVA, it was apparent that she was 100% authentic and original.

I mourn her loss deeply. Shirley was one of the finest teachers I ever saw, in any discipline, at any level of study.

Splendid instructional technique; unconventional and inspired. Her object was to challenge young people to THINK. I’ve seldom encountered such ingenuity in the classroom or in life.

May God bless such wonderful educators.

Kabuki, anyone?

Kathryn Wade

July 19, 2009

Shirley Wiley will be remembered in our hearts forever! I smile when I think of Shirley. She served Kinkaid well and raised the bar in teaching for all of us. I was fortunate to have taken one of her Legacy lives on classes. I can look at one of Shirley's paintings on my wall and think of Shirley. Justin, I hope you are well and know how deeply Shriley loved you. May all of yalls family celebrate happy memories and may you be comforted. I loved Shirley very much and shall miss her. Kathryn Wade, retired math teacher

C A

July 19, 2009

Wecome back home and back to your beloved.

Fondly, L. CA

Helen Sanders

July 19, 2009

From another Teacher of English who now teaches Drama to Middle School Students in New York City...it is all so apparent that yours is..."A Joyous Job Well Done Mrs Wiley!" It is such a pleasure to read of your life of "Giving" that has enhanced the lives of others! You are a blessing...and your Legacy Lives On!

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