WYONA M. SHIRLAND

PASSADUMKEAG and OLD TOWN – Wyona M. Shirland, 77, died Oct. 5, 2008, at a Lincoln hospital, with her family by her side. She was born April 23, 1931, in Great Works, one of a set of twins of Carleton and Lucy (Wallace) Smith. She was one of 13 children and grew up in a house full of love and companionship. In 1954, she married Welton Shirland and they had two children. Wyona chose to stay home and provide a loving and warm home for her family. She loved life, lived a simple lifestyle and did not ask for much. She enjoyed family, especially when her nieces and nephews came to visit. There was always a special place in her heart for her twin sister’s children and she treated them as her own. She was a fighter for life; having battled diabetes for most of her life, battling back from several illnesses during recent time and survived a battle with colon cancer earlier this year. She finally lost the battle to heart failure. She loved her yearly trips to Tennessee to visit her son, Michael, where he would take her on adventures that she only could have dreamed about before. In 2001, her daughter, Cheryl, moved back to Maine, making a home for them in Passadumkeag. She is survived by a son, Michael Shirland of Tennessee; a daughter, Cheryl Smith of Passadumkeag; a granddaughter, Nicole Shirland Bass; her twin sister, Blanche Gould; sisters, Dianne Emery, Helen Babb and Dolores Climo; and brother, Leonard Smith. She was predeceased by her parents; her husband, Welton L. Shirland; lifelong companion, Leo Thibeault; brothers, Carleton Smith, Chellis Smith, Clarence Stormann and Chet Hutchinson; and sisters, Dottie Storman and Freda Sanborn. Friends may call 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at Birmingham Funeral Home, 438 Main St., Old Town, where an informal celebration of life will begin 8 p.m. Burial will be private at a later date at Lawndale Cemetery, Old Town. For her love of children, memorial contributions may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 175 Ammond Dr., Suite 201, Manchester, NH 03103 or you may go online to www.jdrf.org.