Ocie Faye Martin Shirley – Lieutenant, United States Navy Navy Spouse

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From a contemporary press report:

Faye Martin Shirley of Hughesville, Maryland, died on November 20, 2003 at Southern Maryland Hospital, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 86 years old.

Faye was born on September 6, 1917 in Huntington, Texas, the third of five children oof the late Cozy and Margaret Wells Martin. Attending a small school with only 10 grades in Ratliff, Texas, Faye decided that a 10th grade education was not enough for her. She offered to work for a doctor and his wife in the larger town of Crockett so that she could attend high school there and have a full 12 years of education. After graduating from high school, she attended the Jefferson Davis School of Nursing in Houston, receiving her R.N. degree in 1938.

For the next four years she worked in hospitals in Houston and did private duty nursing as well.

After the outbreak of World War II, she was commissioned as an officer in the Navy Nurse Corps in 1942, with her first assignment being the US Naval Hospital at Mare Island, California. She then spent over 20 months on the hospital ship, USS SAMARITAN in the Pacific theatre, working as an operating room nurse and  treating wounded from numerous battles to include Saipan (1944) and Okinawa (1945).

After the war, Faye was assigned to Naval hospitals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Norfolk, Virginia, Oakland, California, and Foley, Alababa. She married Lieutenant Commander Robert A. Shirley in 1953 and resigned her commission later that year as she awaited the birth of her only child, Kathryn Ann. Faye then devoted the rest of her life to her family and her community, working as a volunteer at the old Hughesville Elementary School and serving as a Girl Scout leader for many years.

She will be remembered by many Southern Maryland children of the 1960’s and beyond as “Mrs. Shirley”, who always had the time to take them fishing, go on hikes, and teach them about birds, plants and trees. Her only grandchildren, Aaron, will especially miss her, as she was his first fishing partner.

Faye was predeceased by her husband, Lieutenant Commander Robert A. Shirley in 2001. She is survived by her daughter, Kathryn Ann Boudreau of Fairfax Station, Virginia; a stepdaughter, Patricia Gayle Shirley of Altoona, Pennsylvania; a grandson, Aaron Matthew Boudrea, also of Fairfax Station; a stepbrother, C.F. Getro of Lufkin, Texas, and a host of nieces and nephews.

Funeral services 1 p.m., Tuesday, December 9, 2003 at Old Fields Episcopal Church, Hughesville, Maryland. Interment 2 p.m., Thursday, December 11, 2003 at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

SHIRLEY, OCIE FAYE MARTIN

  • LT   US NAVY
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/11/1943 – 11/30/1953
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 09/06/1917
  • DATE OF DEATH: 11/20/2003
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 12/11/2003
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 66  SITE 2916-A
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

SHIRLEY, ROBERT A

  • LCDR   US NAVY
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 09/13/1942 – 06/30/1963
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 06/17/1919
  • DATE OF DEATH: 01/05/2001
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/23/2001
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 66  SITE 2916-A
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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