Shirley A Plummer

Shirley Plummer was born on January 24, 1931, in Portland, Oregon to Charles A. Dean and Juanita G. Travis. She grew up in Salem with her sister Judith Polston and best friend Frieda Carlson Nusom. Shirley graduated from Willamette University with a bachelor’s degree. After college, Shirley spent two years with the American Red Cross in Korea with the mobile recreation program.

Shirley loved to travel and was able to go to many places around the world including Japan, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Turkey and Indonesia. She lived in Oregon, California, Montana, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia. Living at Tenmile Creek on the Oregon Coast was her favorite. Shirley was passionate about ingenuity in all forms. She enjoyed learning languages, collecting, nature and art. As a musician, Shirley played piano, harp, mandolin, dulcimer, and tried every obscure instrument she could find. She also enjoyed singing folk music.

Shirley was a writer and a poet. She was a member of the Tuesday Writers in Waldport and published poetry with that group in their yearly volume of “Tuesday”. She also was a proud author of the book The Task of Falling Rain that she published in 2016. Shirley was able to participate in poetry readings at Yachats Open Mic.  In addition to her published works, Shirley submitted her work to poetry competitions. She won first place in several competitions including the Oregon Poetry Associate 2015 Fall Contest and the 2016 Porad Award through Haiku Northwest. If you would like to listen to readings of Shirley’s Poems, you can visit her page on Oregon Poetic Voices.

Oregon Poetic Voices- Shirley Plummer

On April 14, 2023 Shirley passed away at 92 years old while listening to poetry.

Shirley is preceded in death by the love of her life Frank T. Rafferty in 2006. They were together for over 30 years.

Shirley was loved by many and will be greatly missed by her family in Oregon, Washington and the Netherlands and friends near and far.

Family would like to thank the staff at Sea Aire and Hospice for helping care for Shirley at this last stage of her life.

NOW

                                  now is fleeting

           cease grieving the past

lost love, lost health, lost time

           seek joy and beauty fresh

find friends, new poems, new flowers

           here now, now gone

                              touch more softly

all things beloved

                               listen more carefully...

that rustle of leaves

                                drink more deeply

of cold springs and wild violet scent

now is fleeting

                                   look more closely...

magnified in that dewdrop...

                                    now is fleeting 

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