Shirley Rae Krause Havelka was born at home on a farm in Rosebud, MO on May 23, 1939 to Raymond and Elsie Krause. She had one sibling, a brother, Larry who was 20 months younger than her. Her dad was an Entrepreneur and they lived in several places growing up. Gerald, Rosebud, Drake and briefly in St Louis to name a few. Shirleys fondness for animals started young with raising chickens and rabbits. There were dogs, Spotty and Curly and many stories were told about Mama Kitty who blessed them with many litters of kittens. She even had a pet snake for one summer!

Shirley spoke fondly of her younger years with great memories of going to Camp Meeting, the State Fair, and sleeping in the car!, spending time in St Louis with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Ann. In 1951 the family moved to Drake, MO. when her parents bought the Drake General Store, a small town general store at Hwy 50 and Hwy 19 that sold general merchandise, tires, food and two full service gas pumps that her and Larry were mostly in charge of, living upstairs above the store with no indoor toilet, and she had to cross a highway to get to the outhouse…. made for a lot of stories as an adult!  She was on the Debate team in high school, could say the alphabet in German, memorized the entire Gettysburg Address and graduated as salutatorian from Owensville High School in 1957.  After graduation she moved to St Louis for a short time and lived in an apartment with seven other girls before moving back to Drake and marrying Gene.

Gene and Shirley met at the Drake store and after a four year on/off courtship they were married on April 27th, 1958 in Drake. Shirley always talked about the Dogwood and Redbud branches her dad got up that morning and brought over to decorate the church with. Years later Gene would plant both trees at there home on Forsythia Lane for her to enjoy for years to come.

Gene and Shirley would move to St Louis after getting  married and lived in a small apartment on Shaw for a couple of years while she worked downtown for Laclede Gas, taking three different buses each day to get to work. After her children Stacy in 1964 and Brian in 1966 were born they moved to a home in  South County for a few years before moving to Olivette in 1968 so that Stacy and Brian could attend and  be within walking distance to Hillcrest Seventh Day Adventist School.

Shirley would live at #9 Forsythia Lane with her family for the next 57 years!  She enjoyed being active in her church and children’s lives. She was a “room mother” at school, a Pathfinder leader for many years going on several campouts and camporees often being the cook for the whole troop! She very much enjoyed entertaining and had many church luncheons, ice cream socials and dinner parties at their home. Shirley was known for her cooking but especially for her baking! People knew her pies were the best and every Christmas her cookie trays were infamous! She would make up to 18 different kinds of cookies some years for all to enjoy. Shirley also enjoyed some crafting, doing needlepoint and a big macrame phase in the 1970’s…. also doing group activities with ladies from the church like the Advent calendar that is still in use to this day.

Shirley loved to travel and the family took many fun vacations through the years going to Dude Ranches, National parks and Disney several times. After the kids were gone her and Gene continued their traveling with trips to Europe and  many cruises with friends, often Mary and Eugene Boaz, and Bill and Pat Gibb and  several others too….. It was on their first International trip when Shirley went to get a passport that she realized on her birth certificate that is said baby boy as it was listed as Shirley Ray not Rae. Remember she was born at home? The Dr took paperwork back to office and the secretary the next day just typed up Ray and put in male. It was quite a fiasco getting a woman in her 40’s sex changed  on her birth certificate! Gene sure had a good time teasing her about it! 🙂

After Genes retirement they got serious about RV camping and enjoyed going all over the United States and up to Canada with their beloved dogs. There was Mindy, Holly and Carlie. They enjoyed being camp hosts in several places spending several summers out at Mermac State Park but they really enjoyed their summer out in Bar Harbor, Maine. The winters for 18 years spent at Adelaide Shores in Avon Park FL first with their RV and the last three years in a park model were something that they so enjoyed. Gene and Shirley made many friends  and had memories from  there that spoke of so very often.

Shirley was a lifelong Seventh Day Adventist and a charter member of the West County SDA church. She had a heart for serving on the social committee, lower divisions in her younger years, serving as a deaconess, taking home extra church bulletins and sending them to shut ins, people who were sick, unable to attend or people who had not been to church in awhile. She enjoyed coordinating luncheons in her later  years for her church ladies, her swim friends and neighbor friends, she would spend time researching for dietary needs, plans games to play and bring little prizes and gifts for everyone. She would volunteer at the Adventist Community Center folding and sorting countless bags of donated clothes. She also enjoyed being a greeter at church.

She and Gene were married for 63 years and had countless friends. She was very proud of her two children, Stacy and Brian.

A Memorial Service will be held at 6pm, with a Celebration of Life to follow from 7 – 9pm on August 23, 2025 at: West County Seventh-Day Adventist Church; 16800 Baxter Rd, Chesterfield, MO 63005.