Shirley Mungai (nee Davis), 93, died on Oct. 4, 2024. She was born on Nov. 15, 1930 in Pendleton, Indiana, most recently residing at the Oak Park Arms retirement community.
Shirley will be remembered very fondly for her keen sense of humor, her kindness, her sense of adventure and her generosity. It was her goal to protect and cling tightly to those she loved and to care for those in need of comfort.
In the 1940s, her family moved to Oak Park, where she attended St. Edmund School and later, OPRF High School. She was preceded in death by her eight siblings.
After marrying Joseph J. Mungai, she moved to Elgin and started a family. They had four children together. Joseph died in 2014; her daughter-in-law, Bonny, died in 2016; and her son, Joe, passed in 2023.
Shirley leaves behind her remaining children, Diana (Dianne Jones), Maria (Henry Sampson) and Ed; her grandchildren, Abby (Dustin King) and Phil; her step-granddaughters, Beth (Eric Vandemark) and Gwen (Jim Walski); her step-great-granddaughters Madeline, Penny and Evelyn; and many nieces, nephews and her sisters-in-law, June and Rita.
Children were very dear to her. Living at the Oak Park Arms, she was able to see the children in the pre-school and decided to make all of them knitted doll and stuffed animals. Making children happy was a source of joy for her. All the little ones in Kindness Creators at the Oak Park Arms will remember “Miss Shirley.”
Perhaps most notable about Shirley’s life is how much fun she could be. She was always looking for a new adventure or just spending a day “gallivanting,” one of her favorite words. Stories of her escapades abound.
She was certainly a presence throughout Oak Park in her six years living at The Arms. She could be seen walking all over town. She walked to Mass at St. Edmund every morning and later to Ascension Church. Some days she would walk a mile and sometimes four. She wore out four sets of tires on her walker since moving back to Oak Park!
Her connection to her faith was a primary source of comfort and joy for her. She chose to see kindness in others and was repaid in so many ways. She valued her church community, her Oak Park Arms community and most of all, her family.
Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 18 at Ascension Catholic Church in Oak Park.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.