THOMASVILLE, Ga. – Shirley Ann Kerckhove, 90, passed away July 1, 2025, in Thomasville, Ga. She was laid to rest in the Valley Brook Cemetery, Overbrook, Kan., Nov. 24, 2025. She was born April 4, 1935, to Lula (Branson) and Oliver Beaman, in Lawrence, Kan.
Shirley graduated from Lawrence High School. She attended Abilene Christian College, Abilene, Texas, after high school. Shirley worked as a switchboard operator for the local phone company, was an owner-operator of S&H Grocery, and helped run Beaman’s Radio and TV Service (the family business), all in Lawrence.
Shirley attended the Church of Christ while living in Lawrence.
She married Dale Wagner, and they had one son. Dale died at a young age.
In 1971, Shirley was married to Gerald “Bud” Kerckhove. They moved to a farm at Michigan Valley, Kan., that belonged to one of her great-uncles. In 2016, she moved to Thomasville to be closer to relatives.
Shirley was preceded in death by her son and both husbands. She joins a host of saints of the Branson, McClune, and Gracey families buried in the Valley Brook Cemetery.
She is survived by a niece, Carol Myers, of Thomasville , and a nephew, Hugh Francis, of Alabaster, Ala.
Condolences can be left with Lamb-Roberts Funeral Home at lamb-roberts.com.
