Shirley Ann (McDonald) Sass was born September 12, 1937, in Elk Horn, Missouri. After graduating from Rocky Comfort High School in 1955, she married John Sass on September 7, 1957, and they remained married for 62 years. She passed away at her home in Kansas City, Kansas, on July 7, 2020, at the age of 82, surrounded by family.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Carus McDonald and Hazel Braillier, and her siblings Betty Pinkston, Bobby (Buck) O’Dell McDonald, Geneva Lindsey, Carus (Pug) O’Neil McDonald, Leta Rose Smith, Danny (Dodie) Ray McDonald, Claud Ernest McDonald, and baby Sass who passed in 1960.
She is survived by her husband, John Sass; her sister Vivian (Kenneth) Wilson; daughters, Joyce (Sam) DePriest, Kimberly (Carl) Bowman, and Leslie (Ben) Kamai; 8 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews.
While her main career was a full-time homemaker, she spent time working for Folgers Coffee before switching to working in the Washington High School Kitchen for approximately 12 years. Shirley then worked at the Woodlands racetrack, taking on a variety of positions.
Even in retirement, she donated her time where she could. She volunteered to work in the gift shop at Providence Medical Center and spent much of her free time perusing yard sales and gardening.
Shirley was well-known for her larger-than-life personality, magnificent sense of style, and love of travel. Though she loved her children fiercely, her love as a grandmother was in an entirely different league. As her grandchildren grew, she was known for scooping them away in the Sass RV to see the world and spoiling them with all their requests.