Shirley Jean (Jensen) Wilde of Grass Valley, CA peacefully entered into rest on January 12, 2025, just days after the passing of her husband of 70 years, Lowell Wilde. She was born to Chris and Bernadette (O’Connell) Jensen on a farm near Lake Preston, South Dakota on December 2, 1934, the eighth of 10 children. She attended a country school and graduated from Lake Preston High School, where she met her future husband, Lowell Wilde. After graduation Shirley worked at a hospital in Huron, SD before marrying Lowell on August 18, 1954.
Their first home was at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO and upon Lowell’s honorable discharge from the military they moved back to Lake Preston, SD where their first son Jeffrey was born. In December of 1955 they moved to Southern California where they lived for two years before a move to San Jose, California. There they were blessed with four more children: Jeanne, Kenneth, Barbara and Denise. In addition to raising their children, Shirley worked part time in the office of a fruit factory, and later at a Sears Department store for several years.
The family moved to Grass Valley in June of 1976, where Shirley worked at Bank of America for 17 years. She was an active parishioner at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church where she taught and served as a regular reader at Sunday Mass. She also loved being a volunteer with the Sierra Nevada Hospital Auxiliary for 22 years. Upon Lowell’s retirement, they purchased a fifth wheel trailer and spent many years travelling. A favorite was meeting up with friends in Arizona each year for baseball spring training. Shirley enjoyed gardening, traveling, entertaining friends, and especially spending time with her family. She made numerous trips overseas to places such as Rome, Greece, Ireland, London, Israel and Germany.
Shirley Wilde was predeceased by her husband Lowell, her parents, Chris and Bernadette Jensen, and her siblings, Jack, James, Daniel, Jerry, Madonna, Marguerite and Patricia.
Shirley is survived by her sister, Kay Hendricks, her brother, Bob Jensen, and her five children: Jeff Wilde (Victoria), Jeanne Wilde (Coleen), Ken Wilde (Winni), Barbie Wilde Long (Matthew), and Denise Wilde Chatigny (Philip). She was a cherished grandma to 9 grandchildren and a wonderful Nana/Gigi/Grandma/Great-Grandma to 18 great-grandchildren.
Shirley was a very caring and loving person. She was very proud of her family and never, ever missed an opportunity to talk about the accomplishments of her children and grandchildren to friends and strangers alike. She will be dearly missed and forever loved by all her family and friends.
A vigil/visitation service for Shirley and Lowell will be held on Sunday, January 19th at 4:00pm at Hooper and Weaver Mortuary. Their funeral service will be held on Monday, January 20th at 10:30am at St. Patrick’s Church in Grass Valley. In lieu of flowers, Shirley’s family respectfully requests donations in her name to Hospice of the Foothills, Grass Valley CA.
