Shirley Ann Frederick

Shirley Ann Frederick passed away on March 21, 2026.

She was born in Dover, New Hampshire to T. Ralph and Isabelle Meyers of nearby Durham. She attended the University of New Hampshire where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She graduated with the Class of 1958 and went on to Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned a masters degree in elementary education.

After two years of teaching in Massachusetts Shirley signed up with the United States Air Force to teach overseas and was assigned to Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya. There she met her husband John Samuel Frederick of Earlham, Iowa. Two of their children, John and Christina, were born on the base. After three years of overseas service, they were then stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and resided in nearby Rapid City, where daughters Katherine and Carla were born.

Shirley taught school at Douglas School District near Ellsworth and later for the Rapid City Area Schools. From 1981 to 1983 she was president of the Rapid City Education Association. In her last years of teaching she was a Reading Recovery teacher and wrote children’s books for that program. Some of those books have been published.

Following retirement Shirley became active in the local environmental community and in the Black Hills Farmers Market. Her daughter Kathy Thornell currently lives in Mesa, Arizona, son John lives in Spring, Texas, and daughter Carla lives in San Diego, California.