Shirley Ann Fitterer
Oct. 4, 1934-Feb. 20, 2011
Santa Rosa, California

Shirley Ann Strain Fitterer, 76, passed away peacefully, Feb. 20, 2011, with her daughter by her side in Santa Rosa, Calif.

A third generation California native, Shirley was born Oct. 4, 1934, in San Francisco, the second child of Gordon Strain of Bolinas and Margaret Frances Jenkins Strain of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Gordon was an operating engineer, sports fisherman, and avid gardener. Margaret was an early employee of Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, a wonderful homemaker, and beloved family matriarch.

Shirley had many fond memories of her childhood, including playing with her brother and cousins, visiting her grandparents at their dairy farm in Barron Park, and cultivating friendships that would last a lifetime. She graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1952 and attended San Jose State University.

She lived on Oahu for nearly a year and later worked for a dentist and an aviation firm. On June 21, 1958, Shirley married Charles Evans Fitterer, a native of Pittsburgh, Penn., and then employed as an engineer at Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto.

The couple had four children together. The family moved to Colorado Springs in early 1962, back to California in 1965, and then to Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1968. Near the end of her 30-year marriage, Shirley moved back to California to take care of her aging parents.

Upon completion of a course in basic office skills, Shirley returned to the workforce full time in 1988, working for more than a dozen years at Marketing Resources Plus (MRP) in Palo Alto and several other high tech companies. Shirley retired in 2002 and moved to Santa Rosa.

She was an active member and former deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa and led the church's annual blood drive. She was also a volunteer at Canine Companions for Independence. Her interests included family, gardening, flower arranging, body surfing, and the company of her beloved whippets, Simon and Seal.

Shirley will be remembered for her remarkable generosity, charisma, wit, memory and intuition. She is survived by her brother, C. Richard Strain of Bloomfield, her children, Clifford, Laurence, Jill, and Richard, and six grandchildren, Lauren, Courtney, Ethan, Emily, Jack and Elizabeth.