Shirley Brownfield

S hirley K och B rownfield, 102, died peacefully at home in Hershey on June 8, 2025, just 13 days before her 103rd birthday.  She was born on the family farm southwest of Hershey on June 21, 1922, to Frank and Hazel Koch.

Shirley attended country grade school a mile south of their house and she and her two sisters all rode the same horse back and forth to school.  She graduated from Hershey High School in 1940.  During World War II she volunteered at the North Platte Canteen, washing dishes was her main job.

On September 6, 1942, Shirley married Billy Brownfield at the grandparents Koch house.  They lived on their farm at Hershey for the remainder of their lives.  Shirley was a farm wife through and through.  She worked hard on the farm, both in the fields and cooking for the extra farm help and delivering many meals out to the fields.  She also worked as a bookkeeper for W.T. Grant Company, a department store in North Platte during the early days.  When the store closed she went to work for Haws Plywood Lumber Yard as a bookkeeper.

Shirley was a good seamstress, making clothes for herself, her younger sister, then her own children.  One of her dresses won a purple ribbon at the 1940 State Fair.  She did lots of quilting and needlework, including crocheting and knitting.

Shirley quietly worked all her life and even insisted on loading the dishwasher herself until a few months ago.  She was devoted to her family and her face lit up at the sight of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Billy; her parents; brothers, Wayne (Mae) Koch, Merlon Koch and Stuart Koch; sisters, Margaret Ramsey Parker and Francis Jorgenson; brothers-in-law, Bob Brown and Frank Brownfield; sister-in-law, Harriet (Buck) England; and son-in-law, Lloyd Tanner.

Shirley is survived by her daughter, Mary Tanner, and son, Vernon (Deb) Brownfield; her sister, Ruth Brown; grandchildren, Susan (Chad) Tanner Osburn, Ryan (Gina) Tanner, Lindsay Brownfield and Melissa (Scott) Radke; great-grandchildren, Cora Osburn, Ella, Max, Liz, Maddy, Ana and Georgie Tanner and Carter, Everett and Fynn Radke; and many nieces, nephews and other family.

Graveside service will be 11 a.m., Friday, June 13, at Riverside Cemetery at Hershey.  Visitation is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at Odean Colonial Chapel at C & Sycamore which is in charge of arrangements.  Online condolences may be shared at odeanchapel.com.  In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Hershey Volunteer Fire Department or Hershey Senior Center.