Shirley Ann (Davis) Christopherson

Shirley Ann Davis Christopherson, 86, passed away in the early morning of March 7, 2022, at the New Horizons Care Center in Lovell, Wyoming.

She was born on November 6, 1935, to Jesse Wells Davis, Jr. and Alpha Edna Egbert Davis in Lovell, Wyoming.

From the time she was born to the time she was married at 18 years old, Shirley lived in the small white stucco house across the street from the LDS Church in Byron, Wyoming. She attended all her schooling in Byron, graduating in 1953.

She was in the Byron High School Marching Band and played 1st chair trumpet. She was the editor of the school yearbook her senior year. She loved tumbling and gave a half-time performance showing her tumbling skills at a Byron basketball game.

On the evening of her high school graduation, she faced a dilemma: her current boyfriend Orvin from Meeteetse, and a boy she thought was a former boyfriend, Larry from Ten Sleep, each brought her a diamond ring. Her father had to go explain to the unlucky boy that she had chosen the other one.

Shirley and Orvin Roger Christopherson were married later that year on December 17, 1953, in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. They lived in Laramie, Pavillion, Burlington, Ten Sleep, and Basin. To this union were born five children: Laurie, Dwain, Tammy, Christie, and Bonnie. Orvin passed away on October 27, 1989. Shirley never remarried.

As a small child, Shirley had a habit of wandering off (which she called exploring) from home. One time her parents couldn’t find her. The neighbors couldn’t find her. They decided to drain the water from the ditch nearby to see if she had drowned. She wasn’t there, either. After all this frantic searching, she was eventually found at another neighbor’s house calm and happily eating lunch!

She loved horses and always owned a horse that she would ride with her friends in the sand hills above Byron. She also loved dogs and always had a pet dog while she was growing up. Sometimes the dog would ride with her on the horse! She had a parakeet that she taught to talk.

After her children were mostly grown and gone, she always had a least one or two Cocker Spaniels as her best buddies. No doubt there was a big reunion with all of her dogs as she passed through the veil. For as we all know: All Dogs Go To Heaven!!

She loved baseball and was a big fan of the Billings Mustangs minor league baseball team. Shirley and her friends would write to the players on the team. She couldn’t understand why they didn’t write back—until many years later, her mother, Alpha, confessed that she intercepted the letters coming or going.

She loved to travel. Every summer for many years, Shirley and her brother, Ed, would get out the maps, plan a route literally from town to town for a two-week trip, and then Shirley, Ed, her mother, Alpha, and several kids in tow would execute that plan on a trip somewhere in the U.S. or Canada. Later she got to travel in airplanes to visit some of her children. She loved airplanes and knew a lot about them. One of the highlights was seeing the Space Shuttle on top of a special 747 Aircraft at the Air and Space Museum in Houston, TX. She also went on a cruise with her brother, Ed, to Alaska.

Shirley was always very curious and loved to learn new things. She took a home course on upholstery which enabled her to have her own upholstery business.

She took courses as diverse as Computers and How to Make Lingerie. She enjoyed crocheting, gardening, various crafts and was a frequent blue-ribbon winner at the Big Horn County Fair.

She was an expert seamstress and made many clothes for her children, including wedding dresses for her daughters, Bonnie and Tammy. She also made formal dresses for various events, such as prom and homecoming. She liked to can, so she bottled all kinds of fruits and vegetables. She even made and bottled Root Beer once! Other times, she hatched chicks from eggs, all to the delight of her kids.

Shirley taught piano lessons to her kids and to countless members of the communities that she lived in. She was well known throughout the Big Horn Basin for the many times she played the organ for her church and community events. She also accompanied several choirs on the piano, and played the accordion at various events, including at her father-in-law’s graveside dedication service. While living in Basin, she joined the community band and was

1st chair trumpet as an adult!

In August 2020, Shirley moved from Basin to the New Horizons Care Center in Lovell, Wyoming, where she thrived and lived just a few rooms away from her older brother Ed Davis. During her time in the nursing home, she played the organ, which endeared her to the staff and residents alike. The staff there fondly remember her as being kind, patient, and a joy to be around. She thought of the nursing home staff like family.

Shirley was preceded in death by her husband, Orvin Christopherson, her parents Jess and Alpha Davis, and two grandsons Merlin and Jeremy Brinkerhoff.

She is survived by her older brother and best friend, Ed Davis. She is also survived by her five children: Laurie Christopherson Coombs (Harold “Moby” Meadors) of Byron, Dwain (Mary Kaye) Christopherson of Burlington, Tammy (Rodney) LaFollette of South Jordan, Utah, Christie Christopherson (Scott Covington) of Liberty Hill, Texas, and Bonnie (Tom) Glenn of Cheyenne; 16 grandchildren, and 36 great-grandchildren with another one on the way.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2022, at 11 a.m. at the Basin-Greybull LDS Chapel, 400 US-20, Basin, Wyoming. Visitation will be held at the same location from 10-10:45 a.m. Burial will be in the Basin Cemetery on WY 30 in Basin, Wyoming. Haskell Funeral Home in Lovell is in charge of arrangements.

The services will be live streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jlafol

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