[List] Obituary: Shirley (Mrs. Cecil) Stokes

[Cecil Stokes]

Obituary: Shirley Jacob Stokes (Mrs. Cecil Stokes)

Shirley Jacob Stokes was born on October 10, 1932 in Decatur General 
Hospital to Ela Mae Simpson and William Alfred Jacob. She was a member 
of the final graduating class at Riverside High School in Decatur. Only 
16, she took a job at General Motors Acceptance Corporation to work 
until age 18, the required age to enter the nursing program at Tulane 
University. The most significant thing about her stay at GMAC was her 
friendship with a co-worker who invited her to go on a date with her 
fiancé and a friend, Cecil Stokes, whom she married in 1963. They were 
happy together as long as they both lived. He describes her as “the 
perfect wife.”

She attended classes at UAH, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. She 
then earned a MSW degree in social work at the University of Alabama in 
Tuscaloosa. She worked as a social worker for DHR in various units 
including Child Support services, Child Welfare and a Jobs program which 
included benefits eligibility determination as well as counseling for 
jobs and other support services.

Upon retirement from the state she served Faith Presbyterian Church as a 
Deacon, an Elder, and a teacher on teams working with elementary age 
children. She worked in church related volunteer activities such as 
Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army food service, Homeless relocation 
activity, and various community programs for the elderly. She served for 
a few years as church newsletter editor, bringing it into the computer 
age and giving it the lasting name “Voice of Faith.” She volunteered for 
a couple of years as a docent at the Museum of Art. She took the Master 
Gardener course and volunteered at Huntsville Botanical Garden for 
several years. She was a member of PEO and served on the Landscaping and 
Sunshine committees of the Magnolia Trace Residents Association during 
her years in that retirement community.

Survivors include husband Cecil Stokes, brother-in-law Burt Stokes 
(Sherry) of Bonita Springs, FL; nephews Michael Jacobs (Andrea) of 
Columbia, MD; Patrick Jacobs (Dora) of Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Lawrence 
Stokes (Julie) of Greenville, SC; Tom Stokes (Courtney) of Milwaukee, 
WI; and niece Jenni Stokes of Huntersville, NC.

After spending 13 days in the hospital Shirley succumbed to pneumonia on 
27 July 2023 while her husband held her hand and reminisced over their 
wonderful years together.
A memorial service is planned for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 12, at 
Huntsville’s Faith Presbyterian Church at 5003 Whitesburg Drive (35802) 
followed by a reception in its Fellowship Hall.

================================
Only the last paragraph and a few other words have been added to what 
Shirley wrote and filed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic exactly 
three years before the day she took her last breath.
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