Shirley Anne Giafaglione

Shirley Anne Giafaglione, 90 years old, was a lifelong resident of Ocean Springs, Mississippi; she joined her Lord and Savior in Heaven in the early hours of January 7th, 2025. Shirley was born in Biloxi on September 26th, 1935, to Robert Claude and Alberta Ellen Kew Mohler; she was the youngest of seven children. From an early age, Shirley knew that she was going to be different and fiercely embraced her identity.

 She loved cats and her mother and became a devout member of the Saint John's Episcopal Church in Ocean Springs. She was a member of the 4-H club and a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol on Keesler Air Force Base. After her sophomore year at Ocean Springs High School, she moved to South Africa with her mother and father, finishing her education through the American School program based in Chicago. She returned to the States to attend Cushing Academy in Massachusetts and then the Latin American Institute in New York City. After college, she returned home to the Gulf Coast and, true to her unique style, bought a Harley Davidson motorcycle and began her life. Shortly after, she met Leon “Jeff” Giafaglione , a World War II Veteran and Harley Davidson mechanic, and they married at the Mohler family homestead in 1957. For 57 years, they lived one of the greatest love stories anyone had ever known of a person to live in real life. Not an unkind word was ever exchanged between them, a fact that can be verified by all three of the children they raised , something that was consistent with a favorite quote of hers, “People will forget what you said, but they will never forget the way you made them feel.”

 There were so many things that happened in those wonderful 57 years together, first a honeymoon to the Bahamas. Then in 1961 they embarked on a months-long trip across Europe where they slept under bridges and in fields and rode their Harley that they had brought with them on the deck of the Lykes freighter they traveled over from Galveston, Texas. Jeff had built a custom storage box on the back of their Harley so they could keep their personal effects with them. Thirteen countries later they returned home to Ocean Springs where they built the house they lived in, room by room and side by side the way they did everything in life, together. After that, two children followed, Leon Brian Giafaglione (1963) and Perri LeeAnne Giafaglione (1967). But even with all of these accomplishments under her belt, Shirley knew that there was even more that she was called to do and so for 17 years she worked as a volunteer for the Jackson County Youth Court and served on the Board of Directors for The Lord is My Help soup kitchen in Ocean Springs. Eventually she and Jeff opened their home to foster children. A recipient of the Jackson County Citizen of the Year award multiple times, she tirelessly championed one act of service after another.

 Beginning in 1970, Shirley and Jeff, accompanied by their two children, worked every summer at Redbird Mission, a Methodist mission camp in the coalfields of southeastern Kentucky. In 1989 they became Grandparents to their Granddaughter, Salomé Giafaglione and continued all of their traditions with her as they had their other two children, traveling back and forth to Kentucky as they continued their mission work that was an extension of their devout faith in God. In 2007, Shirley became a great-grandmother for the first time to Ashton Lutz. Two years later, another grandchild followed, and eventually, she had five great-grandchildren in total. With unwavering dedication and devotion to her grandchild and great-grandchildren, she traveled to be present at every single one of their births, no matter how far from Ocean Springs it took her. She never complained of the aches and pains of old age and was never limited by any stereotype that growing older presents, mentally or physically. There was nothing that she couldn't do and wouldn't do for her family and friends. 

Shirley leaves an incredible legacy of a life lived fully, but her enduring theme was this: turn your life over to the Lord and live for Him every day to the best of your abilities. You will never be sorry you did this, and you will never be alone. The second most important ethos she practiced and preached was that true joy comes from the service of your fellow man. I know these are the two things she would wish more than anything else in the world to be heard as her final appeal.

 Visitation will be on Saturday, January 18, 2025, from 9am until 10am, with a 10am Celebration of Life service, all at the Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Home. Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Homes is honored to serve the family of Shirley Anne Giafaglione.