Shirley Larkin passed away on Monday, March 27 and has once again been reunited at the Mulwala Lawn Cemetery with her late husband Patrick (Red or Paddy) Larkin who passed away on March 20, 2020, aged 72 years.
Former Mulwala parish priest now in Corowa, Fr John McGrath, conducted the funeral service in respect of 75-year-old ‘Shirl’ at St Brigid’s Catholic Church Mulwala last Friday.
“Her service to the church in a quiet way” and “a lovely person to all” were descriptions by Fr McGrath of the lady so popularly known as Shirl.
“A valiant woman”, “a woman of strength”, “a pearl of great price”, “worked diligently”, “took pride in her inner resources and strength” and “initiates good” were words contained in a Reading from the book of Proverbs by sister-in-law Noreen Nieuwenhout and which, Fr McGrath said, also related to Shirl.
The eulogy was delivered by nephew Tom Young, which included: “Shirley May, or to us ‘Shirl’, was born on the 23rd December 1947 at the Yarrawonga Hospital to Angus and Doris Nicholson who were affectionately known by most people as ‘Joker’ and ‘Joan’.
Shirl has an older sister Lyn, a younger sister Glenys and a younger brother to Bryan who is deceased.
“Shirl completed her education at Mulwala Central School and went on to work at Tom Savage’s corner store, Leslie’s cake shop, the Murray Valley Motel before finally, the cafeteria at Thales which she thoroughly enjoyed.
“Shirl married Paddy in 1967, they welcomed the birth of their son Craig Patrick later that year, closely followed by twins Peter and Mark in 1969. They welcomed the birth of Julieanne in 1973 and Patricia in 1974, sadly the baby girls went straight to heaven.
“Family life was good for the Larkins, very busy and full of football trips with Joan and Joker. Shirl was a keen gardener and great cook – famous for her perfect jelly slice and sensational Mars Bar slice. She also enjoyed dancing, country music and playing her guitar.
”Tragedy struck in 1980 when Mark was taken from the family too soon.
“As Craig and Peter grew up, Carol and Jackie joined the Larkin family presenting Shirl with four grandchildren – Madeline, Marcus, Jedd and Jade who gave a lot of pleasure to both Shirl and Paddy.
“Todd, Teagan, Jess and Rick later joined the family presenting Shirl with seven great grandchildren: Olympia, Patrick, Fletcher, Arie, Oscar, Leo and most recently Lucy who were the source of great joy to Shirl.”
Songs, ‘Where Her Heart Has Always Been’ and ‘One Day at A Time’ were played in the packed St Brigid’s Church.
“Shirl was a loving and compassionate person, well recognised and we were best friends all our lives,” sister Glenys said. As she was with so many people. Shirl is now at rest, back with her soul mate Red.
