Lolita Shirley

1939 - 2025

Our beloved mother, wife, and grandmother, Lolita Thomason Shirley, 86, of Rexburg, Idaho, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, August 29, 2025, surrounded by her loving family.

Born on March 29, 193,9 in Rexburg, Idaho, Lolita was the third child and first daughter of Charles and Doralee Thomason in a family comprising of 2 other daughters and six sons. She graduated from Madison High School in 1957, going on to attain an Associate's degree from Rick's College and a Bachelor's in Physical Education with an emphasis in dance from Utah State University in 1962.

She married Bruce L. Shirley of Salem, with whom she spent 65 years, on September 18, 1959, in the Logan LDS Temple. Together, they raised two sons and three daughters, who gave them 12 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Lolita's formative years were spent performing acrobatics and dance routines at many rodeos, social and church events throughout the region, and cheerleading for Ricks College. After her education, she began teaching PE and English at Lewiston Jr High in Utah and later coached the gymnastics team at Sugar-Salem Jr High and High School.

For over twenty-five years, her studio, Lolita's Dance Academy, was renowned in the Upper Snake River Valley for her classes in ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics. Many of her students went on to continue to further her love of art, dance and movement by starting their own studios or becoming performers themselves. Her moment of fame came when she performed on the David Letterman show at the age of 59, doing her signature backbend off of two chairs, picking up a handkerchief off the floor with her teeth.

She was a faithful member of the LDS Church, having served a Stake mission and many callings in Primary and Relief Society.

Lolita was kind and compassionate, a loving wife, mother, and grandmother, who will be warmly remembered and greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She is survived by her husband, Bruce, her brothers Nicholas and Greg Thomason (Rexburg), and her sisters Lynnea Holley (N.Ogden) and Anne Marie Neville (N. Logan); as well as her children Cyrina Jones, Paul (Brooke), Shaun (Autumn), and Tara Brown (Terry).

She is preceded in death by her brothers Anthony, Warren, Byron, and Roger Thomason and a daughter, Maria.

Please join us in honoring Lolita's life on Friday, September 5th, with a viewing at Flamm Funeral Homes from 5:30 - 7:00 pm; the funeral follows on Saturday, September 6, at the Salem Church on the Salem Parker Highway at 11:00am with a public viewing starting at 10:00am. Interment will be in the Burton Cemetery.