On August 23rd 2021 Shirley Lucas Jauregui was set free of the bonds of this world, to go to Heaven. She was 97
She was a pillar in the community. A leader, advisor, innovator and creator of so much and to so many. The Nevada County Ag Boosters, Lad and Lassies class, and Draft Horse Classic, were all started with a vision Shirley had.
She came to California from Oklahoma with her mother Karman and sister Sharon after loosing her father. The girls were going to be trick riders. Their work ethic was unstoppable and it wasn’t long before they achieved their goal. They worked rodeos from Salinas to Denver, Cow Palace to the Coliseum in LA.
During their down time they took odd jobs and one of those led them to a very long movie stunt business career. Shirley doubled Lucille Ball in and episode of “I love Lucy”, she worked with John Wayne on “Blood Alley” and she did all the riding for Betty Hutton in “Annie Get Your Gun”, just to name a few.
Shirley and Sharon wore the first Lady Wranglers and were poster girls for Wrangler.
In 2008 she was awarded the Tad Lucas Award for women who spent a lifetime representing rodeo values and was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Seven years later she was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.
In her spare time she wrote a book of true life memories called ” It Takes a Good Horse”. It tells of the courage it takes to chase your dreams.
She married a Basque rancher Daniel Robert Jauregui in 1955. They had a daughter Michele and son Dan. Bob and Shirley moved from Newhall, California to Nevada County in 1966. Together they bought a ranch that became part of what is now Wildwood. Selling that home, they put down roots on the Penn Valley ranch that she called home for the last 53 years.
She is proceeded in death by her father, Allison and her mother Karman Lucas, her sister Sharon Lucas and her husband Bob Jauregui
She leaves behind her son, Dan Jauregui, daughter, Michele Azevedo and husband Manuel, granddaughter Amaya and husband CJ Groves, their children, Laramie Laine, Corbin James, Blasi Joe and in 8 months and still baking, Koy Rawlins. There are so many others that called her “Grandma Shirley”
She believed that with a strong faith in the Lord and hard work anything was possible.
Shirley will be greatly missed, as she touched many lives over her 97 years!
There will be a celebration of life later this fall.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, 101 Pro Rodeo Drive, Colorado Springs, Co 80919
I can’t wait to see her again “Down the Road”.
