Shirley Ann Carper

Shirley Ann Carper passed away peacefully on Monday March 25th 2024 at the age of 87. She was born on September 16th 1936.   

A visitation will be held April 13th at 10 am with celebration of life 11 am at Roeder Mortuary 108th Chapel (2727 N. 108th Street Omaha, NE 68164). Luncheon will follow at Presbyterian Church of the Master (10710 Corby Circle Omaha, Ne). In lieu of flowers  please send donations to Alzheimer’s  Foundation of America.  

Shirley Ann Carper passed away on Monday, March 25^th at the age of 86. She was born to the late Earl and Anna Gatzemeyer in Hubbard, NE on September 16^th, 1936. She graduated from NewCastle High School in 1954. She was raised on a farm in NewCastle, NE and had her chores to do daily. I feel those obligations made her the worker she was. She came from a family of six, 3 girls, Bettylou and Kathy. She also had 3 brothers Robert, John and Tom who are her survivors.

She married Leslie Carper in 1955 and they moved to Omaha, NE. She had four children, Christine, Jeneanne, Merrily and Michael. She worked at a department store for a while. Later she took a job at UNMC as a file clerk for 35 years. Unfortunately, after 18 years of marriage she was divorced. Nothing could stop her and she was a very strong and independent woman.

She attended Lighthouse Baptist Church and was a member of the choir. Boy would she belt out those songs! She attended Bible School and helped out in the nursery. She loved to volunteer and wanted to help as many people as she could. She went to Honduras to do some mission work and it made her feel very useful. It was like she couldn’t do enough to help!

She loved spending time with her grandkids and later the great grandkids were her joy. She enjoyed doing crafts with them. She always enjoyed spending time with her siblings and their families. She looked forward to Mother’s Day when we would plan different things to do. Later on, we included our Aunt Kathy and our cousins. We never had a fear of getting bored. She was always there for her kids and grandkids to help whenever she could.

She enjoyed crafts, reading books and her sports. She was a big Husker fan and made sure no matter where we were at the time she could listen to it on the radio. She also enjoyed a variety of sports.

Mom had her own vocabulary, we called it Shirley-isms. She would say “Wow! It’s human out there,” instead of humid. If we’d get frustrated, she’d tell us to blow it out our knees. We never figured out what that meant.

Wherever she was she would leaver her mark upon the world. She dealt with Alzheimer’s for about 10 years before losing the battle. She was finally ready to visit her parents and other family members. We could never have asked for anything better than a mother who always let us know how much she loved us.

She is survived by her children, Christine (Ken) Glendenning of Omaha, Jeneanne (John) Pettis of Omaha, Merrily (Bruce) Wright of Dodge, NE and Michael Carper of Omaha; grandkids, great grandkids and even a few great, great grandkids. She had so much love for all of them.