It’s A Wonderful Life

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
(Isaiah 43:2 )
Most Merciful God,
Mourning passes and life goes on. Different, yet still sweet.Today we honor the memories of our time with Bob. We know  the hardest part ,standing vigil, waiting for the end of life, together, yet so alone, is over. Now, Bob is at peace.  Different, yet still sweet, never missing our love, affection, and admiration which never dies. Be with his precious soul in the ascension to heaven. Be with us, Bob's family and friends in our time of sorrow. Let us know the power of forgiveness. The glory of generosity. The humility of grace. Amen

Eulogy from Alyson

We gather to remember the little things that made a special place in our heart.
To remember those happy times when we laughed
and those times when our hearts broke as one.
For who could put a price on memory?
We gather to share the pain
To hurt when you hurt without presuming that our pain is the same.
To cry when you cry and not try to hide or avoid our tears.
For who can ever take away the pain?
We gather to give the gift of grief
To stand beside you in silence and not be uncomfortable with your tears.
To allow you the gift of mourning this loss and not lose patience
For grief is God’s way of healing a broken heart.
We welcome you here today and we thank you for joining us to celebrate Bob Shirey’s most Wonderful Life. AS you look around the room you will see familiar faces, both in those here and those in the photos and displays around the room. Our intent is your heart be filled with love and joy for Bob’s true spirit. Our hope is, after soaking all the joy and love in from his life, you may be inspired to speak and share with us a story from Bob’s life…there are SO many.
To get us started, we have a beautiful video composed by Bob’s sister, Nancy. It is entitled “It’s A Wonderful Life”


In order to prepare for this talk, I had the honor and privilege of sorting through Bob’s photos, articles and personal memorabilia. What I discovered in the trail of the past, was a vibrant, enthusiastic, light-hearted man, who was as creative as he was intelligent. The few minutes I have here, can only scratch the surface. As you spend your day with us today, please feel free to peruse the photos and read the articles as you take a peek into a SLICE Bob’s life. If I may, give you a tip – you can always find Bob if you look for his rosy cheeks. They are unmistakable!
Bob was born on July 2, 1937 to Ruby and Marshall Shirey. He had two younger sisters, Nancy & Marsha.
Bob had a love for the unusual, and interesting right from the start – at age 8, he played accordion in an accordion concert. He also thrived in group activities and was a natural leader, he started as a Wolf Club Scout at age 9 and continued to become an Explorer Scout through age 16. A student at McAllen High School from 1951-1955, Bob kept busy. While in school Bob was president of the student council, member of the band, track member, honor bar thespian, won second place in the state meet in debate and was a cheer leader. In fact, here is an article from his pep rally-ing days that I came across:
“McHi’s pep rally for the McAllen-Edinburg game was held down-town Friday, and seemed to be a big hit with all concerned. The townspeople seemed to get a big kick out of it, and the kids really yelled. Also, McAllen’s business-men really went for Bob Shirey’s bopping, and when he was done, several of the men yelled and applauded”
OF COURSE, the BUSINESS MEN were applauding! Now, Bob was also the feature editor of McHi’s magazine “The Salud”…I am sure he didn’t write the article himself – right?! Because he certainly wouldn’t have been the author of this one written about him during his senior year:
”Two McHI senior boys out on the loose can get into just about any kind of trouble, so it seems. To prove the fact, we’ll take the case of Woody White and Bob Shirey. Seems as though they went all the way across town the other morning to pick up some furniture for the set of the senior play. On the way back something strange occurred which made the car stop. Bob being a helpful fellow got out of the car with Woody and exclaimed, “Well I don’t know any more about the insides of a car than I do brain surgery, but that looks pretty bad to me.”
They managed to push the car down the highway, and some obliging fellow offered to assist by pushing with his car. They started off by locking bumpers, and drove into a local repair shop, still locked. The boys were afraid something bad had happened to the car, and when the man told them what was the matter, they were more than surprised. Out of gas. Well, that goes to show that there are two more boys in McHi who have not taken driver’s ed.
After he graduated from high school he went to Pan American College where he was editor of the college magazine, and received the freshman service award. He was sports editor of the newspaper and received a letter in debate. At UT he was the feature editor of the TEXAS RANGER, the college humor magazine.
It was at the University of Texas where he would meet Jeannine, the mother of his 3 boys, Robert Allen, Scott and Mark. As a student, he majored in Radio & TV.
Bob’s 13 year career with Frost Bank began in 1960, which lead him to earn a degree in Banking from SMU. He would later become president of City National Bank and then Bank of the Hills. In fact, his experience as president is a long and winding road. Bob was president of: The McAllen Highschool Band, The debate club, the student council, Delta Upsilon Pledges, Liberty National Bank, City National Bank and Bank of the Hills…and that’s just what I could find this last week…there must be more!
In 1979, Bob built the Flagship Texas, a barge on Lohman’s Crossing Rd that is still in operation today. Being the adventurous sort, he of course hosted a party on the Flagship for which he booked Willie Nelson.
He returned to study Real Estate at...of all places...Texas A&M and eventually opened the Inn at Brushy Creek in Round Rock.
During his retirement years he spent time visiting family, attending war re-enactments and travelling. He loved to travel and meet people.
At the turn of the millennium, Bob’s life began to change. He had a heart attack in 2002. In 2006, shortly after the death of his sister, Marsha, he had his first stroke. The stroke impaired his speech. Resilient and determined as he was, Bob forged on and continued to live an independent life for the next 8 years. It was not until July of this year, when his 5^th stroke took his sight, that he lost his independence. His family had the opportunity to be with him in his final days and he died peacefully.
Bob was a student of life. He was passionate and inspired, he was a force to be reckoned with, an unforgettable soul.
Bob Shirey: a son, a brother, a wolf scout, an explorer scout, a musician, an actor, an artist, a writer, a debater, a cheerleader, an athlete, a president, a banker, an entrepreneur, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, a friend, you are loved and you are missed.

"The cares of the world concern me no longer
I have completed this life
My work is done,
My family is happy and healthy in their pursuits
I have loved much and well
To those I leave behind
I hope I will remain in their hearts as they will in mine
Thank you for taking such good care of me
And all of you who have been my friends, thank you for teaching me about life and about love."

Here is a video with memories of Bob through the years.
 
 

Memorial Speech for Uncle Bob by Brandon Reeb (Jr.)

For most of you Bob Shirey was something more than just “Bob”. For some of you, Bob Shirey was a loving brother, or father. For others, Bob was a loyal friend. For me as a child, he was “Uncle Bob”, Nanny’s mysterious kooky older brother. Though vague, my memories of him back then are memories of family gatherings around the holidays, especially Christmas, where the family would get together and celebrate. At these times Uncle bob seemed to me the classic older patriarch. He was old and odd in a sense, but he was incredibly warm and open with the family and always seemed to be in the middle of whatever conversation seemed to be going around at the time. When he talked to me, he was always incredibly kind. Sometimes he would ask me about school and tell me how tall I looked, other times he would crack a little joke at one of the other family members expenses that only a child would laugh at.
When I got older, and he lived a little closer, I got to see uncle Bob a little more often, but going to see him was always the same. No matter what he was always happy to see me, and prouder than could be about anything I could think to tell him about my life. I wish during these times I had had the forethought to sit down with Uncle Bob and really talk with him, to learn what I could from a man with a whole life of experience, but I never thought to and eventually time did what time does, and things got harder for Uncle Bob. Even then, all I ever saw of him at the time was the same, kind old Uncle Bob, only now he brought me birthday cards every time I saw him and had to slow down a little when he tried to talk. Though silly, and easy to laugh at, those cards were Uncle Bob’s way of reaching out, and telling me that he cared; that even though he couldn’t say it right, and he couldn’t figure out how to show it perfectly, Uncle bob wasn’t going to allow his struggles to stop him from telling me he was proud, and that he loved me. Today is a day of celebration and reflection, and I’m sure as we sit around we each must have a different vision of Uncle Bob in our minds. Mine is of a smiling, old, round faced man with one hand on my shoulder and a stack of birthday cards in the other, and I’ll always know he loved me.