Obituary of Shirley Louise King

Our Lord gently took home the beautiful soul of Shirley Louise (DeLine) Denny King, age 90, on Monday, October 17, 2016. She was born 9 & 10 June 1926 (the actual date was always in contention between the delivering physician and Shirley's mother…whose arguments were that they were both there at the birth). She was the fifth child born to Mary Louise (Brisson) and Jesse Wellington DeLine. Her Father Jesse, born in Canada, was the eldest of 9 children, and due to an abusive father, ran away from home to the United Sates (at the ripe age of 12). Shirley graduated from St. Anthony of Padua H.S., attended the Syracuse Vocational College, and held several jobs between the Great Depression years and WWII, to include employment at Easy Washer, Bill Rapp Buick, and was a Certified Theater Projectionist. Her life-long love of Cinema started with her sister "Bea" taking her by the hand to attend so many Saturday matinees. There was a 20 year difference in age between Shirley and her eldest sibling. Her entire family played instruments, mostly self-taught. She played a mean ukulele, and a beautiful voice. After WWII (then a single parent with two sons) she worked at Cook-Logan Photography Studio on Bear Street, Syracuse, until the property suffered a catastrophic fire. Later both the King and Cook families moved "way out" to Fayetteville and extended a friendship that would last her entire life. The King and Cook families further partnered to renovate a vacant building to open the Manlius Cinema in the late 1960's. The endeavor was completely "do-it-yourself" including the kids stowing away in the back of a U-Haul van to removing the theater seats from an old movie house in Boston to individually reinstalling each seat into the Manlius Cinema (the ride back from Boston atop columns of bouncy theater seats was a great adventure!). Shirley was communicant at Immaculate Conception of Fayetteville and supported many Catholic and Native American charities. She also had devotions to St. Rita, St. Theresa of Avila, and the Blessed Mother Mary. When she passed away, the palm of one hand had turned green, as the rosary with which she prayed was NOT made of gold! On or about October 8th Shirley was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital after becoming nonresponsive at her residence at Cunningham at Loretto. She was discharged for Comfort Care on October 14th. The morning of the 17th, after completing her Rosary with her daughter, Shirley's eyes opened wide for the first time in nearly a week, and tracked from a picture of our Lord to a statue of the Blessed Virgin and peacefully, painlessly, she stopped breathing. Shirley was preceded in death by husband James Sr., son Kevin, and grandson Jared. She is survived by sons Michael (Wendi) Denny of Wisconsin, James Jr (Marilyn) of Cazenovia, Russell of Canastota, and daughter Rita (Gary) Scheirer of Daytona Beach; grandsons James III and Jon King, and James, Karl and Jesse (Shasta) Lantz; great granddaughter Rylie; and our very loving, supportive extended families of Scheirers, Nuzzos, Keelings, Mullers, our military families, and dear friends…even the crazy ones in Daytona. To all she was our "Mimi", Shirley saying that that is a French term of endearment for Grandmas. You would honor her by exploring your own personal relationship to God in whatever form/religion you choose. In lieu of flowers Shirley wished all to have a drink of their choice in her honor. To that end an Irish wake will commence at Noon this Sunday Oct 23rd at the Blarney Stone, 314 Avery Ave, Syracuse, NY 13204. ALL I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM MY MOM; "You don't need a penny to have the Kindness and Class of a Princess" "If you are beautiful at 16 you can take no credit, but if you are beautiful at 60 it is your own soul's doing" "Old age ain't no place for sissies" (Bette Davis) "What a poverty it must be for a child to have to die for a woman to live to way she wishes" (Mother Teresa) "Whatever you do for a man…he will let you." "When the tide and wind are against you, you're just gonna have to row"