Jacqueline Ann Shively

1932 - 2021

Madison / Cambridge, WI - Jacqueline Ann Shively, age 89, passed away peacefully on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021. Jackie was born June 21, 1932, to Stanley and Cornelia Peterson in Haney, Wis., and was raised on a dairy farm in Soldiers Grove. A 1950 graduate of North Crawford High School, she first worked as a switchboard operator in Beloit. She later moved to Madison where she was a bookkeeper at Hills Department Store on State Street. A fateful encounter at the Playdium Bowling Alley in the spring of 1954 with a young sailor named Neil led to an August wedding in 1955 at Bethel Lutheran Church. Their loving marriage spanned 59 years until Neil's passing in 2014.

Together they raised four children in Dubuque, Iowa, and later Madison, Wis. Jackie was a caring mother of Patricia Ethridge (Charles) of Monona, Ralph Shively of Madison, Beth Walsh (Michael) of Madison, and David Shively (Chiori) of Lahaina, Hawaii. Jackie enjoyed her work as the Brentwood Village neighborhood Avon representative, as well as sales associate at Bormann's Sherman Plaza and Tiffany's Bridal Boutique. A talented seamstress, she made matching clothes for her girls and their Barbies. In her later years Jackie became an accomplished quilt maker, sewing and tying hundreds of quilts in a close-knit church group. The quilts were donated to Lutheran World Relief and given to those in need all around the world.

Jackie was an avid reader and as the wife of a newspaperman, she read two papers a day. She quietly but proudly supported progressive causes and the Arts as a sustainer of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, PBS, Wisconsin Public Radio and American Players Theater. In 1989, Neil and Jackie moved to Cambridge. In retirement she took up Neil's favorite pastime, golf. She played weekly with Neil and in leagues at Lake Ripley Country Club, where she fostered many friendships. Jackie kept active well into her 80s at the local community center. She and friends exercised to a Jane Fonda workout tape faithfully-only Covid could stop them.

Neil and Jackie enjoyed traveling to Europe and taking yearly trips to her beloved Maui to visit Dave and his family. She celebrated her Norwegian heritage with a special trip to Norway. The family cottage in Door County held a special place in her heart. Jackie loved being outdoors in her garden and listening to the birds.

We will miss Jackie's infectious smile, her quiet, kind demeanor, and her remarkable way of seeing the brighter side of any situation. She will be dearly missed by her grandchildren, Lindsay Horan, Maxwell Ethridge, Kai Shively, Molly Anderson (Evan), Billy Walsh and Megan Walsh; and great-granddaughter, Bryn Anderson. Jackie was preceded in death by her husband, Neil; her parents; a son lost in infancy; and her brother, Robert "Bullet" Peterson.

Jackie is survived by siblings, Rodney Peterson, Karen Sigl, Richard (Colleen) Peterson, Bonnie Applebee, Gary (Mary Jo) Peterson, Carolyn Peterson, Archie (JoLynne) Peterson, Mary Peterson, Ole (Lois) Peterson, and paternal aunts, Florence Peterson and Nina Hoffland.

A private family funeral will be held at Grace Lutheran Church in Cambridge and a Celebration of Jackie's Life will be held in the summer of 2022. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Cambridge Public Library, Grace Lutheran Church in Cambridge, or the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

The family would like to thank Jackie's special friends in Cambridge who assisted her in so many ways in recent years as well as the team at UW Hospital, who provided exceptional comfort care to Jackie in her final days. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson East

Funeral & Cremation Care

5203 Monona Drive

(608) 221-5420