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Shirley Marie Holmes Schendel Anderson was born February the 3, 1936 in Turlock, CA to Frederick L. Holmes and Edith Bylund Holmes. Her parents were born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island. She was the third of three children born to her parents. She passed on July 14, 2024 at 7:54 am, Memorial Medical Center, Modesto, CA, at the age of 88. She graduated from Turlock High School and attended nursing school. In 1956, married Andrew R. Schendel and to this union Scott Fredrick Schendel was born. After that marriage ended, she married Carl Lennart Anderson in 1961, and to this union Carla Ruth Anderson and Eric Oscar Anderson were born. Her occupations during her early years of adulthood were to be a mail carrier and an insurance adjuster. For most of her life, she was a hospital switchboard operator at Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock for nearly 50 years. She worked at Emanuel Medical Center until age 84 when a workplace accident ended her employment and career. Some of her favorite activities included cooking and baking, especially her Swedish heritage specialties. She learned from “the best” – her mother. She loved music and sang in her church choir and participated in local choral choruses. She also played the piano and loved to research her genealogy. She participated in community organizations as a member of the Jenny Linn Lodge, Vasa Order of America and the Swedish Women’s Educational Association. In 1962, she was crowned queen of SWEA. She also loved animals, and she had a great affection for her kitty cats. Her favorite was a male cat called Fritz whom she had a hard time losing recently. In 2022, she had finally come around to considering another cat, and we helped her find a rescue, a female named Morticia, named from the character on the Addam’s Family. Mom didn’t like her rescue name and quickly renamed her ABBA after her favorite Swedish pop-group. Mom was able to enjoy ABBA for several months before her last and most devastating fall in May 2023. ABBA has and will have a forever home with her son Scott and his family. Another aspect of her life was her love of the cartoon Peanuts by Charles M. Schultz. Her favorite character was Snoopy. Anyone who knew mom in any detail knew her love of Snoopy. So much so, a stuffed Snoopy character she had kept with her while she resided at the skilled nursing home for the last year, will accompany her in her resting place to help her through her journey to the great beyond. She was preceded in death by her parents, Fredrick L. Holmes and Edith Bylund Holmes; her husband, Carl Leonard Anderson; her ex-husband, Andrew R. Schendel; her siblings, Roy L. Holmes and Winifred Koch Park; her sister-in-law, Ruth Holmes; her brothers-in-law, Fred Koch and Vernon Park. Shirley is survived by her sons, Scott (Dee) and Eric; her daughter, Carla; her grandchildren, Robyn Alyssa Schendel and Mackenzie (Corey) Pierce; two great-grandchildren, Haylee Purdy and Alleah Pierce; and a host of family and friends.

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Shirley H. Anderson

February 3, 1936 - July 14, 2024