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GARDEN CITY Abatine Rebecca "Becky" Shirley, age 83 wife of the late David Larry Shirley, Sr., died Saturday, March 14, 2009 at Waccamaw Community Hospital. Fondly known to friends and family simply as "Becky", was born at home in Garden City, October 7, 1925, a daughter of the late Ernest Berry and Jossie Vereen. Her childhood years were spent growing up in Coastal Horry County, near the creeks and salt water estuaries that she loved so dearly. Becky attended MB high school and graduated class of 1943 with only 22 seniors. After high school she attended Newberry College where she received an associate degree in Business. Becky supported the troop efforts by going into the Navy and participated as a Nurses aid serving with the Navy Waves for two years. When she returned to Murrells Inlet she went into business with her sister. They opened The Garden City Grill, a 150 seat seafood restaurant, at the head of what is now Atlantic Blvd. This was the first seafood restaurant in Garden City and she helped to introduce to diners what is now known as "fan-tailed shrimp". She successfully developed a local following of customers from Conway to Georgetown SC. It was during this time where she met her husband of 54 years, David Larry Shirley Sr.,. He was stationed in Murrells Inlet on what was then referred to as the "crash boats", docked at the old government pier. These boats were used to run reconnaissance missions that supported the aircraft that ran target practice off the South Carolina Coast. She was married in 1947 and she and her husband took over as the sole proprietors of the Garden City Grill. They continued to operate the "Grill" until Hurricane Hazel took it in 1954. At this time her husband returned to the service under the Air Force Branch. This led to her extended 20 year career as an Air Force Wife and Mother of three. Becky traveled the world with extended tours that included Honolulu, Hawaii, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and visits to Paris France, Rome Italy, Jerusalem, and Ethiopia. Her husband's final stop in the Air Force brought them to Charleston, SC close to her home in Garden City where he retired in 1966. Becky was eagerly recruited by Foster McKissick to run the Litchfield Country Club dining room. Just as she did with the Garden City Grill she built up a big following of local and out of town customers. When Becky retired from the Country Club, she took on the motherly responsibility of raising her two granddaughters as if they were her own. She continued to work while helping her husband develop what is now Green Lakes Mobile Home Resort in Garden City, which she operated and managed until her recent death. She was and always will be remembered as the Matriarch of Southern Low Country cooking and local historian of Horry County history and family folk lore. Mrs. Shirley was a member of Belin Memorial United Methodist Church and was pre-deceased by a son: Charles Richard Shirley and a great-grandson Jackson Reed Silver. Surviving are a son: David Larry Shirley, Jr. of Garden City; a daughter: Susan Rebecca Duerk and husband, Donald of Murrells Inlet; two granddaughters: Kelly Elizabeth Shirley of Garden City and Kimberly Vereen Shirley-Silver and husband, Everette Dean Silver of Murrells Inlet; three great-grandchildren: Charles Dean Silver, Aiden Christopher Shirley and Rebecca Cape Silver. Funeral Services will be held 3:00 PM Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at Belin Memorial United Methodist Church with the Rev. Dr. B. Mike Alexander, Jr. and The Rev. Tommy H. Tipton Officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery, directed by Goldfinch Funeral Home, Beach Chapel. The family will receive friends from 6-8 PM Tuesday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association of S.C., 1817 Gadsen Street, Columbia, SC 29201-2392 or to Belin Memorial United Methodist Church, PO Box 528, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576. Sign a guest book at www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com.

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Abatine Rebecca Shirley

March 14, 2009