- Date Of Birth: May 25, 1931
- Date Of Death: November 24, 2021
- State: Colorado
Shirley Boyce, a resident of Grand Junction, passed away on November 24, 2021. She grew up in Wisconsin and went to college in Chicago at Michael Reese Hospital where she received her nursing degree. She joined the Air Force and after initial entry training in Alabama served as an RN at the hospital at Eglin Air Force Base. She married Jim Walker, started a family, and in 1961 settled in the San Luis Valley where she worked as a nurse. The family lived briefly in Bolivia where she made lifelong friends with several Maryknoll Sisters, and volunteered at a nonprofit medical clinic. Upon returning to Monte Vista, she and Jim divorced, and she continued working as an RN. She was part of a group of nurses that started San Luis Vally Homecare. In 1983 Shirley married Wayne Boyce, and after she retired, they moved to Grand Junction. Shirley remained active in medicine for many years, volunteering at the Respiratory Rehab Unit at St Mary’s, and pursuing training to volunteer for county emergencies.
Shirley loved to create paintings, pastels, ceramics, and stained glass, but above all she loved knitting. She made beautiful sweaters, socks, and hats for her kids, who always marveled at how she could watch TV without looking at her knitting. She explored many knitting techniques and designs throughout her life, created a business called Boyce Designs, and traveled with Wayne to craft shows. In Grand Junction she enjoyed many friendships in the knitting community, and coordinated fellow knitters to donate hand-knit items to the Nurse Family Partnership and to the Homeward bound shelter. She taught classes at a local yarn shop, finished other’s knitting projects, and repaired knitted items.
She is preceded in death by her husband, and survived by her three children, two grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.
