Shirley Helen Langsea

Shirley Helen Langsea passed away at the age of 78 at her home in Seattle on October 17, 2024.

Born August 8, 1946 in Portland, Oregon to Earl and Blanche Lattin, Shirley was the only child of their marriage, though she joined older sisters Donna and Delores, twins from Earl’s first marriage. She adored her sisters and they made her an auntie young in life, with many of Shirley's niblings closer to her in age than her sisters.

While in her elementary school years, Shirley began attending Bethel Baptist Church in St. John’s, where her parents would drop her off each week for Sunday School. Church was a respite from a hard home life, and it is where Shirley’s Christian faith was born in full. Throughout her life, she was an evangelical Christian, and she treasured her faith more closely than anything through all her years.

Shirley graduated from Portland’s Roosevelt High School in 1964 and moved to Seattle to attend Seattle Pacific College. Shirley was married to Burt Langsea and gave birth to their son, Chris on Burt’s birthday in 1968. In 1972, Shirley gave birth to their daughter Kari, who completed their family.

As the kids grew, Shirley and Burt divorced, and she adapted to life as a single parent.  In the late 70’s, she earned a certificate in bookkeeping from Shoreline Community College and for the duration of her working career, she was a bookkeeper and accountant.

Shirley kept busy with church, playing soccer, baking and cooking from scratch, canning jam each summer, visiting loved ones in Oregon, and managing growing kids and a brood of dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, turtles, and fish along the way. Shirley was eventually also a parental taxi service, shuttling her kids between little league baseball and softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and track practices and games in their teen years. She always cheered for the Mariners and the Huskies and she loved British mysteries for entertainment. In later life, Shirley enjoyed being Nana to her grandchildren, hosting friends for lunch or tea, attending Bible studies, day trips to small towns, and cooking for church events.

Shirley knew some significant hardships throughout her life, with the most painful being the unexpected death of her son, Chris, in 2022. While her health became more challenging with that grief, she kept focused on her faith and a hope for easier days ahead.  In the final phone call with her daughter, she was anxious about pain, but she was making some jokes and as always, their last words were loving, though neither expected that to be their final conversation. Kari, along with the rest of Shirley’s family and friends, finds comfort that her mom is now fully at peace in her eternal rest.

Shirley is survived by her daughter, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, a few in-laws, several niblings, many dear friends, and her sweet cat, Maggie.