Shirley Anderson

“I always wanted to be a preacher but felt I wasn’t “good” enough.” 

Instead, Shirley Anderson was an adventurer, eager to experience all of life’s delights, never sitting on the sidelines. Whatever the adventure, she brought immense (and boundless!) love to the challenge–love of people and animals, love of life, love of God. While she didn’t have children of her own, many felt as if they had a second mother in Shirley.

Her passions included flying, criminal justice, coaching and of course, preaching.

Shirley Mae Anderson was born on July 11, 1935 in Odessa, Minnesota, a town of less than 300 people, to Arvid Anderson, a welder, and Helen Anderson, a homemaker. Shirley never heard her father say that he loved her, but her mother’s nurturing more than made up for his shortcomings. The oldest of four children, she was named after child actor Shirley Temple. True to her namesake, as a toddler, Shirley had long golden curls. Despite her appearance, Shirley was not a typical girl. As a young child, Shirley loved watching her immigrant Swedish grandfather in his blacksmith shop, “swing[ing] back and forth from the forge to the anvil and shap[ing] iron into a variety of shapes.”

Shirley’s family moved around, to larger towns: Aberdeen, South Dakota, Rexburg, Idaho, and Denver, Colorado, where Shirley attended high school.

Shirley enrolled in Northern State Teachers College (now Northern State University) in Aberdeen. Tired of being cold all the time, she set off on her first adventure. In her words, “I quit Northern in my senior year of college to see the world.” She moved to Miami.

Shirley found the first of her passions–flying. She became a flight attendant with Eastern Airlines. Shirley traveled extensively across five continents, from the ruins of Machu Pichu in Peru to the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, India to the savannas of Africa to the ancient temples of Greece. Shirley also became a pilot, learning how to fly a “Pitts special”, a high-performance aerobatic biplane designed for extreme maneuverability.

Adventure also took the form of saying yes to new opportunities. Shirley took a job that was unconventional for women at the time–as an aircraft router in the operations center where Eastern had real-time monitoring of planes, crews, and flights. During an airline strike, she worked as a mechanic’s assistant in the Overhaul Hangar, where complete engine rebuilds took place. Shirley also worked in dining services which fed tens of thousands of passengers each day, and in the seat shop, which housed rows of industrial sewing machines for seat repairs. One of her most rewarding assignments was writing to customers on behalf of CEO (and former astronaut) Frank Borman. She stayed with Eastern for 31 years.

A new passion sprung up near the end of her career in the airline industry–criminal justice. She went back to school and earned degrees in English (A.B., University of Miami) and Criminal Justice (M.S., Nova University). A witness to civil unrest and riots in Miami in the 80’s and 90’s, Shirley volunteered extensively at an at-risk youth program that brought in gang leaders, police officers and Miami Dolphin players to speak. Later, she took a job in a private criminal justice agency, helping low-level offenders avoid prosecution by completing court-ordered requirements. As a case manager, Shirley honed her understanding of a wide range of human behavior. She saw criminals as human beings who didn’t have another way to express their anger. Clients likely felt Shirley’s compassion and respect for their humanity, even as she held them to their word. They stretched her capacity to love and be loved.

In coaching, Shirley found a passion that built on her interests in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and spirituality. As a close collaborator of Thomas Leonard, who was widely recognized as the father of life coaching and founder of Coach U, Shirley was a pioneer in the coaching profession.

She likened coaching to breathing, “part of my parasympathetic [nervous] system.” When asked about the impact of the coaching profession on her, she replied, “I am doing what I was meant to do on this earth and I do it well. It is work that satisfies my top two needs: peace and freedom.” 

She was a gifted coach, excelling at making the best shine even brighter. When Leonard needed a coach for himself, he turned to Shirley Anderson, who was both wickedly smart and wise. He was the first of many brilliant people who called on Shirley’s superpowers. Beyond her exquisite listening, infinite curiosity and effusive championing, there was love, pure love. This was especially true when Shirley had to deliver a hard truth, which she often did. She planted seeds of courage, hope, and empowerment within hundreds of clients.

Shirley was committed to coaching as a profession and to helping coaches achieve mastery. She helped to create certification standards, serving on the initial certification committees for International Coach Federation (ICF) and International Association of Coaching (IAC). The resulting coaching guidelines have been followed by over 80,000 coaches around the world. For over a decade, Shirley hosted the Coaching Salon, a weekly virtual gathering of and supportive community for coaches. It was fueled by Shirley’s contagious enthusiasm for helping others grow, her insatiable curiosity and her love of mentoring.

Among her firsts, she was the first graduate of Coach U, the first coach certified by the IAC, a chartered ICF Master Certified Coach, founding faculty member of Coach U, and founding member of the board of trustees for IAC. Shirley was honored with Lifetime Achievements from Coaching Among Masters (2009) and International Association of Coaching (2011).

“Family is so precious, and life is so fleeting.”

In 2002, a visit to South Dakota after the birth of a grandniece revealed to Shirley how much she hungered for being close to family. Nine months later, she left the heat and “terribly messy” hurricanes of Miami for the Great Plains and big sky of the farming community, Frederick, South Dakota (pop. 256). Living near her younger sister, nieces and their families, Shirley enjoyed simple pleasures–blazing sunsets and sudden rainstorms, walleye pike dinners and televised NFL games (especially when the Chiefs were playing), nuzzles from beloved Pomeranian, Lilly, or one of her many kitties. In an article she wrote for the local newspaper, she explained this homecoming: “I returned to where I belong, finding family and community and the sacred geography of the Plains. Its beauty makes me cry…I love this land that is intimately tied to the seasons. [T]here is a silence that lets me hear my own blood swooshing.”

Having God in her life was essential to Shirley’s spirit. She loved this quote from Joel Goldsmith: "God must become an activity in our consciousness." Shirley was a lay preacher, Sunday school teacher and church board member at St. Paul’s Lutheran church. She knew the bible well. A self-described rebel, no one was quite sure what would come out of Preacher Shirley’s mouth, not even Shirley. On one Sunday, she asked the congregation to stand up and sing, “This Little Light of Mine” in ragtime. On another occasion, she had parishioners read out loud together from a leadership book on the power of positive relationships. Underneath these unconventional requests was a yearning for others to experience God directly in their everyday lives, just as she had.

A life-threatening heart attack in 2015 intensified her gratitude for daily grace, and her experience of wonder and awe. “I think we are magnificent and flawed human beings. I believe we’re on this earth to love and honor God, love and help our fellow human beings, and to have fun.”

Shirley Anderson died peacefully with family at her side at the age of 91 years old.

Shirley is survived by her sister, Coralie Anderson, and many loving nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Arvid and Helen Anderson, and brothers, Gary and Bruce. 

Services will be private.

Donations to the Aberdeen Area Humane Society are welcome. Please mark your online donation or check in honor of Shirley.