Shirlee Ann Bohlke

Shirlee Ann (Prichard) Bohlke passed away on September 12, 2025 in her hometown of Sioux City, Iowa after a long and fatal battle with memory disease. Shirlee was 85 years old, and had recently celebrated her 65th wedding anniversary with her husband, Paul John Bohlke.

Memory diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, take a terrible toll on the patient, family and caregivers. For the last several years, we have painfully witnessed the steady decline of Shirlee’s presence. However, we are forever thankful to the all-encompassing grace of God that she did not suffer as long as many others have.

Shirlee would not want these last years of dementia to define her life. She would never want to be remembered for how she died, but rather, how she lived. And anyone who knew her would tell you that she lived her life full of love, family and friends.

Shirlee was a kind, generous and caring person. She described herself as “shy”, yet she would stop perfect strangers to pay them a small compliment or strike up a short conversation. She practically invented the “elevator speech” and was a master at telling her life’s story while extracting personal information from unsuspecting passersby in a few short minutes.

Growing up in Montana with brothers who loved to play guitar and sisters who loved to sing, Shirlee had an affinity for music, especially country and gospel. She loved to sing and had a beautiful voice. After moving to Sioux City, she and her best friend Charlene would sneak into the back of a church in downtown and sing the old gospel songs like Amazing Grace and In the Garden, along with the practicing church choir. She also had a delightful sense of humor, and could often be heard singing comedy songs like Blood on the Saddle, Slap Her Down Again Pa, and They’re Coming to Take Me Away. Her humor extended to scary storytelling, and she loved to terrify young visitors with her bloodcurdling tales of the “Croocher Croucher” who allegedly lived in the basement.

As a teenager growing up in the 1950’s, Shirlee also enjoyed Rock-n-Roll music from those “happy days” and she loved to “fast dance”, which was basically a modified jitterbug she and Charlene choreographed. She saw just about every singer who passed through Sioux City in the 50’s, and she spent as much time as she could dancing with Charlene at the YWCA. She danced her way through life, and one of her very last lucid moments was slow dancing with Paul to the song, May I Have this Dance for the Rest of My Life.

She had a passion for travel. Shirlee loved camping with her family in the motor home, the very first being an old school bus Paul converted into an RV, until they eventually purchased a Winnebago. Paul and Shirlee toured the United States with anyone who would tag along, including their children, their brothers and sisters, and with other friends. They loved to visit Shirlee’s brother Ted and his wife Barbara on the east coast of Florida, the Most family on the west side, and Prichard’s and Bohlke’s in California. Shirlee traveled extensively with her sister-in-law and new bestie Charlotte, and the two were like Thelma and Louise, scoring countless escapades and voyages.

But of everything Shirlee loved, children were the light of her life. Not only her own children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, but every child in her life. She loved her nieces and nephews as if they were her own, and many of them have said Shirlee was like a second mother to them. She ran a daycare in her home for many years, a business which, at best, was break-even financially. But for those kids, it was often their one safe place to be cared for and loved. And she never forgot or stopped loving even one of them. Shirlee saw all younglings as perfectly-made children of God, and she saw it as her personal mission to love and protect them.

And God has shown His favor on her work through many of you. If you have been blessed to be loved by, cared for, traveled with, or known by Shirlee, then you gave her life meaning. You are her legacy.

Shirlee is survived by her husband Paul, married in 1960 and living in the same house on Morningside Avenue the entire time. Their daughter Theresa and her husband Bill Engle have their children Bill (wife Cara and daughter Daisy), Samantha Smith (husband Dave and children Ryan, Ellie, Hunter, Henry, and Emmett), Stephanie Conway (with her husband James and their children Graham and Lucy), Ben, and Sarah. Paul and Shirlee’s oldest son Terry and his wife Stacey have their children Daniel (wife Rosalie), Trevor (wife Ally and son JJ), and Savannah. Paul and Shirlee’s youngest child David and his wife Donna have daughters Meghan and Kaitlyn. Shirlee is also survived by her beloved sister Terry (Prichard) Hansen, whose friendship and companionship Shirlee treasured.

Shirlee was preceded in death by her mother Linda Lucinda Prichard (Ma), her father Roy Prichard (Dad) and her siblings Guy, Jean, June, Betty, Junior, Kay, Bill, Donald, Ted, Pat and Sherry. Paul and Shirlee lost their precious son Paul John Junior during childbirth. They have also lost many nieces and nephews, who were as dear to them as anyone.

We are so thankful to Shirlee’s caregivers from Synergy Home Care, Bickford of Sioux City Memory Care, The Heritage at Northern Hills and St. Croix Hospice, especially to Bridget Macziewski, her amazing hospice nurse. Memory Care is a relentlessly difficult job - helping people who can be extremely difficult and combative patients, and who will likely never remember the person helping them. These nurses work tirelessly to help our loved ones when we no longer can. Bless them for all they did for Shirlee.

Visitation will be held at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel, 3220 Stone Park Blvd, Sioux City, on Monday, September 22 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm followed by a vigil to share stories of Shirlee. Funeral mass will be on Tuesday, September 23 at 10:30 am at Mater Dei Immaculate Conception Church, 1212 Morningside Avenue in Sioux City with a luncheon in the Parish Center following the mass.

In lieu of flowers, you may make a memorial contribution “In Memory of Shirlee Bohlke” to St. Croix Hospice https://www.hospicesupportfoundation.org/donate