Shirley A. Allen West Fairbanks, 71, died on April 19, 2014.
She was born on March, 10, 1943 to the late Henrietta Douglas and Percy Allen, Jr. After the death of her mother, she was raised by her aunt, the late Ruby (Paul) Dorsey.
Shirley was a member of Greater Friendship M.B. Church where she served on the trustee board as secretary, a member of the Senior Choir and served on the kitchen committee for several years.
Shirley retired from the Chattanooga Human Services Department as a social worker after 19 years of service. She was also employed with the Chattanooga School system as a substitute teacher, Ruby’s Drive Inn as a cook and server and Girl’s Preparatory School.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by husbands, Lee Andrew West and Price Fairbanks; sisters, Willie Ruth Douglas, Marion Douglas, Sandra Powell; brothers, Jerry Allen, Percy Allen, III and Sonny Ashley.
She leaves to cherish her sweet and loving memories a daughter, Drusilla Cameron; sons, Richard (Melvina) West and Stephen (Yvonna) West; six sisters, Loretta Nash, Barbara Allen, Brenda (Herbert) Dallas, Linda Bonner, Paula Leath, all of Chattanooga and Joyce McClain of Detroit, Mi.; seven brothers, Percy Stoudemire, Charles Stoudemire, Calvin (Patricia) Stoudemire, Raulston Allen, Carlton (Delores) Allen, Maynard Beck, all of Chattanooga, and Harold (Mary) Phillips of Decatur, Ga.; sisters-in-law, May Lizzie Allen and Irene Allen; stepmother, Bertha Stoudemire; stepchildren, Marsha (James) Hayes, Sandra Fairbanks, and David Fairbanks; uncle, Jimmie (Linda) Allen; aunt, Willena Samples of Nashville; nine grandchildren, Terrill (Loretta) Appleberry, Cornelius and Jermaine Norman, Keyia and Gabrielle West, Donovan and D’Toria West, Kanara & DeAnna West; 8 great-grandchildren, Tatyanna, Emmanuel, De’Asia, Timothy, Tamya, Jermaine, Ava and Mya; godmother, Carrie Harden; devoted relatives, Alice (Richard) Goins, Gloria (Lee) Lacy, Norma Williams, Alpha “Sudie” Collier, Betty (Gale) Chambers, Dorothy Sanders, Mildred (Robert) Freeman and Joselean Ingram; very special friends, Brenda Lowe, Bernice Franklin; many other cousins, relatives and friends.
Funeral services will be on Sunday, April 27, at 1 p.m. at Greater Friendship M.B. Church, with Reverend Jimmy Ingram officiating. Interment will be in Forest Hills Cemetery.
The body will lie in state after noon on Saturday, April 26, and the family will receive friends from 6–7 p.m. at John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Ave., 622-9995.