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Shirley Alger Obituary
Shirley Elizabeth Bessler Alger, 93, of Conway, Arkansas, passed away Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, at her home after a brave battle with dementia.
Born Feb. 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, she was a daughter of the late Paul Max Bessler and Elizabeth M. Keck Bessler. She was preceded in death by her husbands, William Ellis Alger and Pete William DeGraw; her daughter, NaDeen DeGraw Sierra; a granddaughter, Dawn Marie Sierra; a grandson, Joseph Sierra Jr.; a sister, Rose Montgomery; three sons-in-law; and a great-grandchild.
Survivors are four daughters, Judylinn DePover of Davenport, Iowa; Denise Springmeier of Bettendorf, Iowa; and Kathleen Caruthers and Colleen Holt (Stuart), both of Conway; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She grew up in Chicago and later moved to Davenport, Iowa, with her husband, Bill, and daughters. Throughout her life, she worked in retail sales in a variety of services, including groceries, clothing stores, a fabric store, a restaurant, a pharmacy and a dry cleaner, in addition to being a homemaker.
Following Bill's retirement, they moved to Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, where she kept busy working with others to establish the Horseshoe Bend Chamber of Commerce and worked at the community pool. She also volunteered and later worked as a librarian at the Horseshoe Bend Library. She was a member of the United Methodist Church.
Her other activities included volunteering with the Horseshoe Bend Honorary Police and Friends of the Animals, and membership in Red Hats, the Mary Circle of United Methodist Women, Beta Sigma Phi, Order of Eastern Star, Job's Daughters and the Garden Club. She loved to bowl, watch the Chicago Cubs baseball games, read books, sing along with her John Charles Thomas and Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy records, and raise her border collies.
A memorial service will be held at a later date at National Cemetery at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. Memorials may be made to the church library at First United Methodist Church, 1610 Prince St., Conway, Arkansas; to the friends of the Horseshoe Bend Animals, P.O. B
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