Shirley A. Holm, 81

April 20, 2023

Shirley A. Holm, 81 of Landis Homes, passed away April 20th, 2023. Born in Myerstown, PA, she was the daughter of the late Nelson and Mildred Firestine of Richland, PA. She was the loving and caring wife of Allan Holm with whom she shared over 50 years of marriage until his passing in 2020.

Shirley was a 1960 graduate of ELCO High School in Myerstown, PA. She went on to graduate from nursing school at the Reading Hospital School of Nursing in 1963, and later at Albright College, where she received a degree in 1968 in Sociology.

Shirley was a lifelong, loving caregiver both personally and professionally. She had a rich and vibrant nursing career spanning several decades. Starting as ICU nurse earlier in her career, she held many nursing roles over the years, including a lengthy tenure at a Lancaster family medical practice, to ultimately retiring from Franklin and Marshall College where she spent the final portion of her career at the college infirmary managing the nursing staff.

Shirley was a kind and gentle, loyal spirit, balancing the demands of a career and family, while always putting family first. She was an avid reader and music fan, pursuing the joy of music later in her life picking up piano lessons as an adult simply because “she always wanted to learn” as she would proudly declare, and joining and supporting the bell choir at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. As her speech declined in the later years, you would often catch Shirley humming along with music, a sign that the power of music still touched her spirit.

She is survived by her two children: Anita Holm, wife of Eric Hagelin of Ambler, PA, and Nathan Holm, husband of Kelly Crenshaw of Austin, TX. Also surviving are her three grandchildren Sean Hagelin, and Halle and Ava Holm, and her brother Richard Firestine, his daughter Pam Firestine Sanders, and several grand and great grand nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Allan Holm, and parents Nelson and Mildred.

There will be a funeral service on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 11 AM at St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 10 Delp Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601. Family and friends are invited at 10:30 AM for visitation. Burial will be in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery alongside Allan.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in Shirley’s memory to the Greater Pennsylvania Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org/pa.