This is a glimpse into the life of Shirley Hammack-Jones, quilter extraordinaire, who has left this world and will continue sharing her amazing gifts in heaven. She is currently blessing God, our creator, with her own artistry, and is certainly enjoying laying her precious, colorful quilts, at the feet of Jesus. Here on earth, if you are a friend, nurse, or animal in need, you are likely the recipient of her skill and generosity and received a quilt, from our sweet mom and grandma. She enjoyed making quilts for veterans, newborn babies, animal rescues, and kids in need, including CASA and orphanages. So many of us are warmly covered with the amazing work of her always-busy hands. 

Shirley met Marvin Jones in Myrtle Point, Oregon, where she was born and raised. She was married for 71 years to Marvin, who sadly said, “So long, honey. So long,” while he patted her arm for the final time on August 23, 2023, when she passed at their home. 

Marvin and Shirley were married in 1952 when she was 16 and he was 20. In only ten months, she became mom to her first beautiful daughter, Rhonda Ann Jones. Five more kids quickly followed: Marvin (Bub) Levi, Thomas Leroy, Susan Faye, Kaylene Louise, and Lavonne Ellen until Shirley was a young mother to six joyously, rambunctious kids under eight years old, all at the tender age of 25. How she managed to keep us all safe was a mind-boggling feat, but if anyone could do it, our capable mom could. With a husband who worked nights, and six exuberant children running wild back in the 1960s, it took an iron-will to stay strong.

We all enjoyed mom’s delicious, depression-style home cooking. Despite struggling to feed us all on a mill-worker’s wages, our young mom made meals from scratch that we devoured, because active, scrappy children are always hungry. Most of our dinners consisted of a fried meat (usually venison provided by dad), potatoes, and a can of vegetables. Some of our favorites included fried chicken, or chicken fried steak, with mashed potatoes and gravy and mom’s own version of Chinese noodles, topped with fried pork, scrambled eggs, and green onions. We also loved potato salad and potato soup, which could also be called clam-less chowder. We had beans and cornbread multiple times per week. Sometimes, we would put beans on buttered bread and make sandwiches. Dad fished and mainly came home with salmon, trout, or surf fish. Mom didn’t love preparing or cooking fish, but she did it, and it was also usually fried. 

Although she wasn’t an outdoor person, like our dad, mom did give it a few tries. She caught a sturgeon, and reeled it in on her own, even though it was over five feet long. Dad was an archery hunter, so she decided to learn how to shoot, too, and she ended up with a beautiful aqua bow. She grudgingly went to agate beach, but not surprisingly always found more of the beautiful rocks than anyone else. Cold hotdogs were the menu of the day.

Mom and dad took up bowling in the 1970s. Like everything else she set her mind to do, she became accomplished and was on a women’s team that won first place at the California State Championship level. She often got the high average award on her bowling leagues with an average that hovered around 176. She had a lot of fun coming in 2nd Place on a mixed doubles team with her son Bub, only missing first by about three pins, which certainly annoyed her. She also bowled a 289, which is only one strike away from a perfect 300 - the ultimate goal of every bowler. 

Mom’s most rewarding and loved hobbies were creating with her hands. She crocheted doilies and afghans while us kids played and fought nearby. She also sewed to save money by making us kids clothes, back when fabric was cheap, and it was embarrassing to wear homemade clothes, because it meant you were poor. 

When she had no choice, Mom often dragged some of the younger kids with her to the fabric stores where we would cause trouble by playing hide and seek among those bolts of draping cloth that were so easily knocked over. Fabric stores were boring to us, but to mom they were colorful escapes. They held promise.  

When making clothes for us was no longer a necessity, mom happily began her joyful journey into quilting and turned scraps of fabric into hand-pieced quilts. She had to learn quilting from trial and error, since her own mother died when mom was six. One of mom’s only memories of her own mom was a sugar pie she had eaten with her. Even though we searched for years to find a recipe that would duplicate the memory of the war-time era pie with minimal ingredients, we never succeeded, because Mom would taste it, and say, “Nope. Not it.”

After her mom died, Shirley, was passed from relative to relative for about three years, until her dad remarried when she was nine years old. Mom said she wasn’t an easy child: it seemed she was feisty from the start, which is what gave her grit and determination in life. 

Mom was eventually able to take an official quilting class at Eureka Adult Ed, and after that she excelled at the precision craft. It was there she learned how to piece by hand using the quarter inch seam rule, which prior to this, she didn’t know existed. She also became proficient with quilting the tops, batting and backs together, with tiny beautiful stitches. But, it wasn’t long before she tried machine piecing and quilting.

At first, Mom worried that if it wasn’t by hand, it wasn’t an authentic quilt. But, common sense convinced her that the only reason women originally quilted by hand is because there were no machines available. Any woman who quilted from necessity, would have loved to use a machine to speed up the process. And, so did mom. She eagerly and happily quilted nearly 200 quilts in one year, proudly using her long-arm quilting machine. This helped her develop an unexpected little business where she quilted for her community, and even better, she gained cherished friends like Carol, Mindy and Geri who had the same passion for quilting, and they spent many fun hours with her sewing, sharing, and giggling together.  

Shirley spent lots of time sharing her skill with all of her kids, and taught most of her daughters and granddaughters how to sew and also quilt, hopeful they would carry on her legacy. 

Distance prevented Shirley from meeting all of her 55 descendants, but she would have loved seeing all of them in a chart like this.

Shirley is survived by her husband, Marvin, Rhonda and Craig Scott from Oklahoma, Marvin Jones, Jr. from Arizona, Thomas Jones, from Eureka, Kaylen McCurry from Redding, Lavonne and Tom Cookman from Eureka, twelve grandkids, 33 great-grandkids, and four great-great grandkids. One great-granddaughter preceded her in death. Shirley also leaves behind her beloved 18-year-old dog. Max, who was more than just a pet, he was her loyal companion who never left her side, with his sweet little wagging tail and soulful eyes, he was always with mom. Whenever we see him, we are reminded that he was a constant, faithful and gentle presence in her life.

We remember mom singing “In the Garden” as special music in church. It was so beautiful. She also sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Up On the Housetop” when she was helping put kids to sleep. These songs will always make us think of her and will help us to remember her not with tears of sorrow, but with smiles and laughter. Shirley’s sprit will live on in the stories we share, the quilts she made, and the warmth of her enduring love.

We’d like to thank Ayres’ Family Cremation for following our mom’s wishes, and for your kindness and understanding. Thank you to Hospice of Humboldt for your care and compassion. We will be honoring the life of Shirley, our mom, grandma, and friend, on October 7 at 2 p.m. at 1920 Freshwater Road, Eureka. Parking is limited, so please carpool, if possible.

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