Shirley Ann Coddington, 72, of Perrysburg, Ohio, died peacefully in her sleep on June 22, 2012, at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, surrounded by her loving family.
Shirley was born on a farm near Broadland, S.D., on Aug. 13, 1939, to Louis and Mamie (Harden) Bies.
She attended Broadland Independent School and graduated from Huron (SD) High School in 1957. She attended South Dakota State College. In 1960, she met and married the love of her life, William ''Bill'' Coddington. They celebrat-ed their 52nd wedding an-niversary on June 13, 2012. To this union four children were born.
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Shirley is survived by her husband, Bill and their four children: Neal A. (Theresa) Coddington of Lake Charles, La., Curtis J. Coddington of Rochester, N.Y., Catherine A. (William) Micallef of Melbourne, Australia and Brian K. Cod-dington of Richmond, Va.; and three grandsons: Willi-am J. and Michael J. Mical-lef and Luke Coddington.
Shirley was preceded in death by her parents; and sisters: Dorothy (Louis) Meier and Mary (Clarence) Neuharth.
In 1960, Shirley and Bill started their married life to-gether when he was in the U.S. Army stationed in Ger-many for four years. Fol-lowing Bill's tour of duty in Germany, they returned to the U.S. for additional military training. Bill was later deployed to Vietnam and Shirley and their chil-dren returned to South Dakota to be near family.
When Bill left the army in 1970 they relocated to Jamestown, N.Y., where Bill was employed. In 1981 job opportunities caused Bill to move to Oklahoma and Texas, so Shirley and the family moved again. Moving frequently was al-ways an adventure for Shir-ley. She had a special talent for making each place a welcoming home for enter-taining family and the many new friends she made wherever she went. They re-turned to Jamestown, N.Y., in 1982 where they lived until relocating to Perrys-burg, Ohio in 1991.
In Jamestown, Shirley was active in the First Unit-ed Methodist Church, where she taught Sunday school and was director of education. She revitalized First United's Reachout Ministries program where she was the director and lead teacher. In Toledo, Shirley continued her teaching career working with the Toledo Head Start. During her eight years with Toledo Head Start, she guided and influenced the lives of many under privileged children who grew to love her.
Shirley loved life and loved to travel. Following retirement Shirley and Bill were able to travel the world. They enjoyed many trips to visit their daughter and family in Australia, as well as trips to Greece, Egypt, China, Russia, In-dia, the Galapagos Islands, Peru and several trips to Europe. Shirley enjoyed planning those trips and chronicling their travels which she loved sharing with family and friends.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Satur-day, July 7, 2012, at the Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, 222 E. South Boun-dary St. Perrysburg, Ohio (419-874-3133).
A memorial service will also be held at 11 a.m. on July 13, at Christ First Un-ited Methodist Church in Jamestown, N.Y.
Memorials in the form of contributions may be made to the American Cancer So-ciety, Hospice of NW Ohio and Christ First United Methodist Church, James-town, NY.
Condolences to the fami-ly may be made by visiting www.witzlershankfuneralhome.com.