Shirley V. Smith

Shirley V. Smith

June 3, 1954 – June 3, 2022

Shirley was born in Norfolk, Nebraska on June 3, 1954 to Tom and Earla Trigg.  In 1966 her family moved to Omaha, Nebraska where she graduated from Westside High School in 1972.  She enjoyed a wonderful childhood with big brother Tod and little sister Vicky.  Shirley attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln to earn a degree in education.  During her time in university, she took a period off to care for her father before completing her degree in 1979.  She then worked as a math teacher for Omaha Public Schools from 1979 to 1982 before returning to university to pursue her lifelong career in Electrical Engineering.  She completed her BS in Electrical Engineering in 1985 and MS in Electrical Engineering in 1987.

After graduation Shirley began her career at Bell Labs in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She designed computer chips for the Telecommunications and Storage Industries.  The design group she worked in changed ownership several times over her working career—to Lucent, Agere Systems, LSI, and then Intel.  She enjoyed working alongside talented engineers and forged lifelong relationships.  She always met her work with rigor and determination, and proved to be a brilliant engineer, leader, and mentor throughout her career.  In 2014, she retired to Omaha, Nebraska to spend time with family and friends.

While at UNL, Shirley met Tom in an art history class in 1978.  After a whirlwind romance, they married on May 19, 1979, in front of family and friends.  They both came to a lifesaving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ midway through their marriage.  They loved reading the Bible together, praying together, and praising God for all He has done for them and the world through His Son.  As Shirley and Tom grew together in Christ, they faithfully served others and were consistently there for their family, friends, and neighbors.  The two pursued a Christ-centered marriage, celebrating many joyous moments for 43 years.

Shirley’s favorite Bible verse was 1 John 3:1-2:

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

Another verse she drew strength from was 2 Corinthians 2:14:

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Together, Tom and Shirley had two wonderful sons, Ryan born in 1984, and Sean born in 1990.  Shirley worked tirelessly as a mom to provide a tremendous life for her boys.  They never knew a day that she did not show her love for them.  Shirley welcomed her wonderful daughter-in-law, Kasi, into the family in 2014, and shortly after was blessed with the addition of four grandchildren: Thomas, Zachary, Genevieve, and William.

Shirley enjoyed gardening, cooking, cycling, and spending time with her family, friends, and the Lord.  She loved bringing her family together, displaying the hospitality of the Lord.  God blessed Shirley throughout her life; she stewarded her blessings wisely.  She loved her entire family including her siblings Tod and Vicky, brother-in-law Tim, cousin Christine, all her nieces and nephews; all Tom’s family members, her best friend Jerri, all her friends in Bible study, all the people she worked with back in Allentown, including JC, John and Mike, friends and neighbors.  Shirley was blessed and thankful to be able share life with all of you.

Shirley loved the Lord and zealously sought a meaningful relationship with Him.  She was a wonderful woman of God, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend in her earthly life and will be dearly missed.  She would encourage you all to believe in Jesus and keep His commands to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.  Thank You, Lord, for Shirley!  You were her God and she was one of Your people.  We know she is with You and we will see her again.  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!

VISITATION: Sunday, June 12^th from 11am to 1pm at the West Center Chapel, followed by SERVICES and Time of Sharing.  Memorials will be directed by the family to Christian Ministries.