Shirley C. Iaquinta

Shirley C. Iaquinta, 91, peacefully left this world on Wednesday, September 30 to join her heavenly father and beloved husband.  She died looking at pictures of her family in her sunlit room at the Journey House Hospice in Lincoln, Nebraska, after suffering a stroke on July 25.

Shirley was born July 1, 1924 in DuBois, PA, the third child of Paul and Marion Weyrauch, who moved the family to Powers Lake, WI when Shirley was an infant. When she was a toddler, the family moved to Kenosha where Shirley attended Kenosha public schools.

She met her future husband, James, (Jay) Iaquinta at a dance when she was fourteen and they dated until they married during WWII on July 24, 1942, just after her 18th birthday. Shirley and Jay were married nearly 70 years at the time of Jay’s death, Feb 9, 2012. Anyone who knew Shirley knew how much she loved her “Jay.”

During the war Shirley joined Jay who was stationed at Greenville, Mississippi until she returned from Biloxi to Kenosha to give birth to their first of five children. After the war, Shirley and Jay lived in the Veterans’ Housing Barracks on 30th Avenue near the old Armory.  They moved several more times within Kenosha until finally relocating to the Legacy retirement community in Lincoln NE in 2010.

For 15 years after retirement, Shirley and Jay wintered in San Antonio to play golf and dominos, making many new friends and spending time with extended family. Summers in Kenosha were spent golfing in leagues and together. They joined a square dance group, bowling leagues, and danced at every opportunity to 40’s big band music. They had a large group of friends with whom they socialized regularly, over late evening coffee, house parties, shared vacations and picnics.

As a deeply religious woman, Shirley “lived the Gospel” in the way she served others. She had a true calling to minister.  Shirley appreciated each day as a new blessing and opportunity to work for the honor and glory of God, and as an advocate for the economically disenfranchised. She participated in various community committees dealing with integration and ecumenism, wrote letters regarding social justice issues to the editor of the Kenosha News, Howard Brown, who held her in high esteem. She held numerous offices at Trinity Lutheran Church, taught Sunday school for over three decades and sang in the choir for over six decades. She was District Secretary of Lutheran Church Women and Secretary of Local Church Women United, Kenosha. She held offices in the PTA’s of her children’s schools. She was a Brownie and a Cub Scout leader, as well as Chairwoman of the Kenosha Housing and Finance Committee. After Vatican II, she became an active member of ecumenism groups working to achieve religious unity with Protestant and Catholic denominations.

Because of her deep concern for others, Shirley initiated the founding of the Kenosha Servicemen’s Center at the downtown KYF, ultimately chairing it from 1968 until 1971 and persistently garnering wide local ecumenical support for the successful project. A few years later she envisioned and spearheaded the development of what came to be the successful social project known as Lincoln Neighborhood Center, with the goal of serving those Kenosha residents who were “falling between the cracks” of local agencies. With her collaborator and dear friend, LaVella Hawes, they convinced local government, churches, social agencies and private citizens to contribute food, housing, clothing and support services to many, many people representing the diverse population of Kenosha. When health slowed her down, she volunteered at the Kenosha Historical Society clipping news articles for the archives.

Shirley never talked about her accomplishments, but when the activities director at the rehab facility she was in after the recent stroke asked her what her “career” had been, she responded after some reflection, “organizer.” That one word response sums up the many years of unpaid social work that she selflessly offered to the people of Kenosha. It was an accurate, succinct and humble description of a live well-lived. She was too humble to say she was a minister of God.

Shirley was mischievous, loving and kind to everyone. She entertained seniors by dressing as the Easter Bunny at local nursing homes for many years, was a Pied Piper on picnic hikes for the attending children at Petrifying Springs and a clown in local parades. She supported local band concerts in the parks and never missed a parade or the fireworks at Simmons Island. She loved to sew as a young woman, knitted many sweaters, hats, mittens and Afghans for her children and grandchildren.  She was loved and respected in the community, her church, her neighborhood and by her entire extended family. She will be dearly missed by all her family, including many nieces, nephews and friends.

Shirley is survived by four of her five children: Alice Iaquinta (West Bend, WI), James P. Iaquinta (Milwaukee WI), David (Pamela) Iaquinta (Lincoln, NE), and Peter (Annie) Iaquinta (Madison).

She is also survived by six grandchildren: Frankie Ridolfi (San Francisco), Christina Ridolfi, (Minneapolis) Sophia Iaquinta, (Minneapolis), Isaac Iaquinta, (Valparaiso, IN), Grace Iaquinta, (Lincoln), and David S. (Katherine) Bobeck (Chapel Hill, NC), as well as four Bobeck great-grandchildren: Heather, Corey, Brittany, and David.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents Paul Weyrauch and Marian (Knight) Weyrauch, her husband, James V. (2012), her youngest son, Timothy (2004), and her three siblings, Paul, Evan and Marion (Wiersum).

The family extends its heartfelt thanks to Lincoln friends who assisted David with mom’s care and the staff of the Tabitha Journey House in Lincoln, NE where Shirley was in hospice for the last weeks of her life.  Great appreciation is also expressed to the staff at The Legacy Retirement Community for the loving care and support they provided to Shirley and the family.