Keeley's Brain

Shirley Munsey was the incredibly interesting British lady who lived on the corner of the street I grew up on. I'd known her all my life, walked past her house on the way to and from school, stopped to get flowers from her garden for my mom, trick-or-treated in the 'haunted house' she built on her front porch, laughed about the crazy Christmas displays she and her husband always did. I could sit for hours and listen to her talk about growing up in post WWII England and traveling around Europe. She had a WONDERFUL garden, perfect for a kid to wander around and let their imagination go crazy. I remember her Christmas trees, there were a bunch of different ones she'd decorate her house with, but my favorites were the one with chocolate ornaments (she always let me have one each year) and the mouse tree- decorated with different mouse ornaments. On my trip to Whales, I made sure to bring back a mouse for her. Because I knew she loved them. She was very active in local politics, helped organize pancake breakfasts at the fire station, Federal Heights day, clean ups of the pond down the street, she loved making movies and film editing. She was a good friend of the family, I couldn't tell you how many birthdays she was at while I was growing up. I'm really glad Chris was able to meet her on one of his visits to Colorado, because she was an amazing woman.
She died New Year's Eve, Dad says she got really sick. For me, the thought of her being gone is kind of surreal because she was always so ALIVE. But I wanted to take a moment and commemorate her life. She lived a full life, but she will be missed.