Shirley Mae Mahaffey, 88, of Urbana passed away at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017 at Clark-Lindsey Village, Urbana.

Shirley was born on the North Side of Chicago at Swedish Covenant Hospital on May 15, 1929, daughter of Elmer and Alta Clausen. She was preceded in death by her husband, John, and younger sister, Elizabeth Ann.

Shirley graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1947. She attended Millikin University in Decatur before enrolling at the University of Illinois in 1949. Shirley lived in LAR when it opened, studied teaching and earned a Degree in Commercial Teaching from the College of Commerce in 1953.

After graduation from the U of I, Shirley moved to AZ and worked at American Airlines in reservations.

Shirley later attended ASU, earning a Master's Degree in 1958. After graduation, Shirley taught in Morenci, AZ; an old mining town in Chandler, AZ, from 1959-1965; and then taught at Mesa Community College, from 1965-1967.

Shirley returned to Illinois and was one of the original faculty members of Parkland College which opened in 1967. She held several positions at Parkland before retiring in 1989.

Shirley was very active in Illinois Business Education Association, serving as President.

Shirley married John Mahaffey in 1975. They were married for 32 years until John passed. They adopted Tammy Kilmer in 1979 at the age of 12.

Shirley loved to travel, especially in Australia and Antarctica. John and Shirley moved to CLV in 1999 and Shirley was active in many ongoing functions during her 18 years of residence there. Shirley was one of the driving forces encouraging CLV to put in a swimming pool. She was able to swim in the pool on the evening before her death.

A Celebration of Life will be held on October 8th at 3 p.m. at Clark-Lindsey Village.