Shirley Yvonne Pawling

Shirley Yvonne Pawling, age 92, died in Viera, Florida on January 17, 2026. She was a graduate of Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. She went on to earn her master’s degree in Education. Shirley moved to Nuremberg, Germany in 1959 after being hired for a civil service job to teach elementary education on the Army Post. After her three-year contract was complete Shirley decided it was time to see another part of the world, and some other mountains. She applied for a job with the Denver Public Schools and began teaching upper grades of elementary school in Denver, Colorado. Another draw to Colorado was Robert C. McGurran, an army private she met in Germany, whom she married.

Shirley went on to teach elementary education in Byers, Colorado and then in Aurora, Colorado for another thirty years, and was able to open the Yale Elementary School with several colleagues that remained friends throughout the rest of their teaching careers. She later married George Pawling and they spent many happy years together prior to his death. Shirley continued to enjoy tutoring young children after she retired from teaching. She also made the most of every opportunity for travel, venturing to Mexico, eastern Europe and central Europe as well as cross-country trips in the United States.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Woody and sister Lois. She is survived by her two children, Susan L. McGurran and Katherine J. McGurran. She is also survived by the countless students whose lives she impacted in infinite ways to give them courage to become their best selves.

For behold, the winter is passed; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come. Song of Solomon 2:11-12