Obituary of Shirley Mack

Shirley Mae (Anderson) Mack died peacefully in her sleep of age-related causes on Jan. 3 with family by her side at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield. Shirley was born July 7, 1926 in Bismarck, ND, to Arnold and Lucile (Allen) Anderson. She was married in Bismarck on Sept. 1, 1946 to Warren Alden Mack of Eugene. After Shirley's parents were divorced in the early 1930s, she and younger sister Lorraine were raised single-handedly by their strong-willed mother, a high school math and business teacher in Bismarck. Shirley's later research of her family genealogy documented that she was a descendant of Massachusetts Bay colonist Samuel Allen and Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen. Her maternal grandfather, Harmon Allen, homesteaded in the Dakota Territory in 1883, owned a bank in Braddock and served in the North Dakota Senate in the early 1900s. Shirley excelled at Bismarck High, where she was editor of the student newspaper, played clarinet in the band, sang in choirs and graduated as the class salutatorian in 1944. Later that year the aspiring journalist got her first newspaper job at The Williston (ND) Daily Herald. During a trip to Oregon in 1942, Shirley met her future husband shortly before her sixteenth birthday. Her mother had arranged for Shirley to stay with a relative in Portland for the summer to recuperate from a concussion sustained in an auto accident. While visiting a friend near Blue River whose family ran the McKenzie Bridge General Store, Shirley had a chance encounter with a 19-year-old fire-spotter taking a break from a forest service lookout atop a nearby mountain. Shirley exchanged addresses with Warren Mack, a fun-loving jazz trumpeter from Eugene. In the fall of 1942, Shirley returned to school in Bismarck and Warren enrolled at the University of Oregon. They stayed in touch by mail. After Warren enlisted in the Army infantry in 1943 and shipped to the South Pacific, the correspondence blossomed into a long-distance love affair. Shirley moved to Eugene in 1945 to study journalism at the UO and await Warren's return from war. At the UO, Shirley participated in the University Theater guild and wrote play reviews for the Oregon Daily Emerald. After their marriage, Warren and Shirley took classes together at the UO School of Journalism. Shirley left school just short of getting a degree to give birth to Jonathan in September 1948. While Warren finished school, Shirley helped make ends meet as a proof-reader for The Register-Guard and as a secretary in the UO Athletics Department for coaches Bill Bowerman (track), John McKay (football) and Don Kirsch (baseball). Warren moved the family to Roseburg when he took a reporting job with the daily News-Review in 1949. After son Donovan was born in 1950, they left Roseburg when the weekly Sweet Home New Era hired Warren as editor. Two years later they moved again when Warren was named editor of the St. Helens Sentinel-Mist. Shirley took care of the boys and often volunteered her journalistic expertise at both papers. The family returned to Eugene in 1952 when Warren went back to the UO to get a master's in journalism to pursue a teaching career. In 1953 the family moved to Laramie, where Warren taught journalism at the University of Wyoming and where son Anthony was born in 1956. In 1960 the Macks migrated to Sunnyvale, CA, the epicenter of what later became the Silicon Valley. For the next 26 years, Warren ran the journalism departments and advised student newspapers at two community colleges, first at Foothill in Los Altos Hills and then at De Anza in Cupertino. Shirley thoroughly enjoyed joining Warren in hosting an annual "spaghetti feed" and awards ceremony for their "extended family" of student-journalists, who affectionately referred to Shirley and Warren as SAM and WAM. Shirley was a great lover of the arts and sports. She was her sons' biggest booster and attended all their activities, from concerts to plays to Little League games. She was an ardent book-reader and belonged to a group that read Shakespeare aloud. She anchored the alto sections of many church and community choirs. She was an avid Giants baseball fan and enjoyed word games, especially crosswords and Scrabble. She crocheted countless afghans and baby blankets for family and friends, swam miles of laps with pool buddies, and won accolades for her lasagna, banana-apricot bread and cinnamon rolls. After Warren died in 1993, Shirley moved to Eugene and lived at the Sheldon Oaks retirement center and later at Sheldon Park Assisted Living. She sang in the Westminster Presbyterian Church choir. Shirley was preceded in death by her sister Lorraine Prosinski of Buffalo, WY. in 1978 and by son Anthony of Sunnyvale, CA, in 1985. She is survived by sons Jonathan (Melinda) Mack of Los Alamitos, CA, and Donovan (Ann) Mack of Eugene. By grandchildren Christopher and Tyler (Sally) Mack of Eugene, Shannon (Erica) Mack of Cypress, CA, Allison Mack of Brooklyn, New York, and Robyn Mack of Los Alamitos. By great-grandsons William Mack of Los Alamitos and Declan Mack of Eugene. By nieces Claudia Jeanne (Mack) Turner of Shoreline, WA, and Joan Prosinski Quesada of San Diego. And by nephews Philip Mack of Bandon, OR, Jim Prosinski of Casper, WY, Steve Prosinski of Billings, MT, Paul Prosinski of Buffalo, WY, David Thompson of Portland, Kim Thompson of Austin, TX, and Kerry Thompson of Rio Rancho, NM. Arrangements by Musgrove Family Mortuary with burial pending at Rest-Haven Memorial Park in Eugene. A private family commemoration will be held later. Memorial contributions may be made to Strings of Compassion c/o Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation, P.O. Box 10905, Eugene, OR 97440, and to FOOD for Lane County, 770 Bailey Hill Road, Eugene, OR 97402.