Shirley about one year old. Cuter than a bug's ear. 😊

This is Shirley's mother and father: Doris and Walter Yager.

Shirley married DuWayne DeBates in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Shirley's hometown, Ellsworth, MN. They then started their life together in a little town in Minnesota not far away called Kanaranzi. There were 2 phones in the house with different area codes. The loudest one only rang when it was Shirley's mom, Doris, calling to chat.

Looks like they had lots of pretty flowers at the wedding. I wonder if Walter got that bill and said "Whoa!! Flowers cost how much?"

Looks like the year Scott came home to the DeBates' family. (Despite Jill's order to "Take that dumb baby back!") :-

Nice photo showing the Yager Family.

Here is the Yager family (sans Walter) based in the living room of the Kanaranzi house. I am guessing somewhere around 1973. I don't know where that painting of the crashing waves came from, or where it went, but I remember it well. Shirley, Marge, Mary, Doris, and Paul.

This is a picture of the living room in the Kanaranzi house. Looks like Jill and Tom with an unknown child in the background. Those big picture windows took out many an unsuspecting bird back then. They looked out to the horse pasture of the Aanenson farm that was across the little unnamed gravel road we lived on in Kanaranzi, MN.

Wow, what a difference 40 years has made to the cost of medical care. Today (2012)you might get one ultrasound of the baby that would cost more than a C-section surgery and a full 7 day stay for the mom and baby back in 1973.

Periodically the little town of Kanaranzi would hold an Ice Cream Social in the old school house. People came from all around to get together and catch up. No Facebook or texting back then 😊

The DeBates family shared a cabin up on Lake Minnewaska in Minnesota with Shirley's brother Paul and his family for many many years. This pic looks like when the cabin had a face lift and a nice wooden deck was added to the west side of it. Shirley had her working scarf on her head and her sister in law Diane was just finishing up a cool drink in the background.

This pic is of son Timothy and Shirley out in the paddleboat on Lake Minnewaska circa 1987. Obviously this was play since Shirley did not have her working scarf on her head. 😊

Grand-daughter Gabby, daughter Jill, mother Doris, and Shirley smiling in the back.

This looks to be around Thanksgiving of 2003. The whole family always somehow ended up wearing close to the same thing, so we had to take a picture. 😊

Back row: Graham, Corina (Cori), Shirley, Anthony (Ty).

Last big family get together, Thanksgiving 2006. Took this photo on a timer set on top of a ladder in the front room of Shirley's little condo in Sioux Falls, SD. Not bad...I give credit to the subject matter over the photography. 😊

Shirley was a "lunch lady" for many years at the elementary school in Luverne, MN and then for a short time in Sioux Falls, SD after her move closer to her family. I am not sure which retirement party this is, but I know that she really enjoyed working around the kids.