Shirley Louise (Williams) Brenon

It is a great sadness that we announce the death of Shirley Williams Mills Brenon of Palm Desert.

Shirley was born in Hollister, CA in 1939, daughter of the late Tom and Mary Lou Williams, granddaughter of Richard and Eva Williams and Carroll and Tressa Johnson; older sister of Carol Williams.

Shirley grew up in Hollister; her first job was helping at her father's drugstore, the Hollister Pharmacy. She earned a social work degree from San Jose State, then used her skills at several public and private agencies in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Shirley married Tom Mills in 1963, and raised her children in Sunnyvale, CA. She used her writing skills to pen amusing annual Christmas letters for decades. When the children were teenagers, she presented them with a memory book, "This is Your Life," containing her letters describing vacations and special moments. Seeking to stay busy, Shirley learned to play guitar and taught six weekly group guitar lessons in her home for the next 16 years. She also sang with the Mission Valley Chapter of the Sweet Adelines.

In 1984, Shirley and Tom divorced. Seeking a warmer climate, Shirley moved to Palm Springs, where she directed activities for a local country club, and worked for an agency placing lecturers on cruise ships. The latter job provided her an opportunity to teach arts and crafts on board Princess cruise ship ships as she sailed to Alaska, Mexico, through the Panama Canal, and to many European destinations.

Once in the desert, Shirley's writing career took off and she wrote a variety of columns for the Desert Sun newspaper over the course of the next 23 years: My Neighborhood, People Who Make a Difference, Education, and General News. In addition, in 2001, she started a weekly Desert Gardening column, which provided information on cacti and other low water plants, as well as raising vegetables and flowers in a desert garden.

Shirley married Don Brenon in 1987 and they enjoyed six wonderful years together before Don passed away in 1993. That same year, Shirley was elated that her son, Steve, born in 1962 and adopted by a couple in Texas, hired a searcher to locate his mother. Shirley had kept in touch with the adoption agency in hopes that one day she would be reunited with her son, but given the closed adoption status in CA, it was Steve's perseverance that finally reconnected them. Steve's phone call was a dream come true for Shirley, followed by his visit to Palm Desert a couple of days later, and a close relationship for the last 30 years.

In the summer of 2003, she met the recently widowed Murray Ross. They had a lot in common and formed a loving relationship that lasted for 17 years. Murray was a photographer, so they combined her writing and his camera skills for the next nine years and volunteered their services to cover charitable events for the Desert Scene section of the paper. Sadly, Murray passed away in April 2020.

Shirley is survived by her three children, their spouses, 8 grandchildren, and her sister.

A celebration of Shirley's life will be held on March 15, 2025, 1 PM, in the Palm Desert Rose Garden at Civic Center Park. The family thanks Bridge Hospice for their compassionate care; memorial contributions in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Hospice of your choice.

Published in Hollister Free Lance · February 17, 2025