Shirley Ann Nicklin

   Shirley Ann Nicklin, age 90, died on December 26, 2012 at Fondulac Rehabilitation & Health Center of East Peoria, IL.
A visitation will be held on Monday from 9 – 11AM at the Winterrowd Funeral Home.  Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11:30AM at St. Michael’s the Archangel Church.  Burial will be in St. Stephen’s Cemetery.
   Shirley, the oldest of seven children, was born to Elbert and Mary Ann (Pavlovski) Harding in Streator, Illinois on January 27, 1922.  She married Russell H. Nicklin on April 21, 1942. He died January 1, 1985.
   Her parents, three brothers (Robert, Elbert, and David) and two sisters (Marjorie, and Dorothy (Charles) Weaver) also preceded her in death.
   She is survived by her sister, Gladys (Robert) Long of Morris, IL; three children, Russell D. (Janice) Nicklin of Peyton, Colorado, Susan (Dennis) Wyckoff of Metamora, IL, and Julie (David) Keith of Burleson, Texas; 9 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.
   Shirley attended Streator Township High School, but dropped out during the Great Depression to help support her family.  Over her lifetime, she worked on the line at Owens-Illinois Glass factory, as switchboard operator at Bell Telephone, as receptionist at Anthony Company, and in Central Supply at St. Mary’s Hospital. Her life-long goal was to complete her high school education, and at the age of 65 she completed her G.E.D.
   Shirley was compassionate and caring, always giving to others of whatever little she had, always ready to see the good in others, and to give others the benefit of the doubt.  She had a habit of “adopting” people into the family, and so she became a second mother or grandmother to many individuals.  
   She loved making things with her hands and was gifted in various forms of needlework, sewing and crafting.  She gave away nearly everything she made, and donated many hand-made teddy bears and clowns for pediatric patients at St. Mary’s Hospital.  She loved her flower gardens, especially her roses, peonies and irises, and she maintained a large vegetable garden into her eighties, canning and preserving many fruits and vegetables.
   Shirley was of the Roman Catholic faith, and was a long-time member of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church before it was consolidated into St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church.  She also attended St. Mary’s Church in Metamora, IL when she left Streator to live with her daughter, Susan, in 2007.
Memorials may be directed to St. Michael the Archangel Church.

Winterrowd Funeral Home
305 S. Park St.
Streator, IL  61364
815-672-2703
www.winterrowdfh.com