Obituary of Shirley N. Carlson

Shirley N. Carlson, 97, of Jamestown, N.Y., a lifelong area resident, died at her home on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. She was born May 18, 1926, a daughter of the late Harold and Lillian Nelson of Peck Settlement Road in the Town of Kiantone. Raised on the family farm, she attended a two-room schoolhouse in Kiantone as an elementary student, attended Jamestown High School, and graduated from Cassadaga Valley Central School while being confined at the former Newton Memorial Hospital sanitarium for pleurisy where, she said, the young patients would often feign hacking and coughing for gawkers driving by. Following World War II, she married Walter N. Carlson (d. August 1977), the father of her four children: Bruce (Andrew) Carlson of New York City; Laurel (Joseph) Siperek of Busti; Bradley (Shawna) Carlson of Bluffton, S.C.; and Barry Carlson of Clyde, Ohio. The family lived on the Busti-Stillwater Road in the Town of Kiantone for many years. In the 1950s, while pregnant with her third child, she contracted polio. After recovering, she was active in polio vaccination campaigns through the March of Dimes and in 1959 was named a Chautauqua County March of Dimes "Polio Mother of the Year" for her volunteer work. For a number of years, she was employed by Frewsburg Central School as a bus driver and accompanied many student groups on after-school activities. She was also a hairdresser in her younger years. After the death of her first husband, she married Fred Sturzenbecker (d. 1992) and lived in Busti. The couple purchased a winter home near Plant City, Florida, traveling there and to other locations in Fred's motor home. Following Fred's untimely death, she later married Richard (Dick) Carlson (d. 2018), a fellow Kiantone Kindergarten student. Both were active members of the then-Stillwater United Methodist Church. The couple were married for nearly 25 years, lived on Chautauqua Lake in Bemus Point, travelled widely, and maintained the winter home in Florida. Shirley was predeceased by her parents, her husbands, and her sister, Evelyn (Herbert) Ostrom. She is survived by her four children; a nephew, Douglas (Linda) Ostrom; grandchildren Kenneth Intihar (Jody Ingersoll), Heather (Rick) Heald, Michael (Melanie) Carlson, Shawn (Molly) Carlson, Anthony (Sarah) Carlson, and Grant Brake; 11 great grandchildren; and five great-great grandchildren. She remained ever grateful for the continued support of and relationships with family, friends, and neighbors, and the families of her former husbands, the Sturzenbecker and Carlson families. The funeral will be held at 4 pm April 2, 2024, in the Lind Funeral Home where friends will be received for one hour prior to the service. The family suggests that, if desired, a donation may be made in Shirley's name to Chautauqua Hospice and Palliative Care, 20 W. Fairmount Avenue, Lakewood, NY 14750 or to the March of Dimes at marchofdimes.org You may leave words of condolence at www.lindfuneralhome.com.