SAHS, Shirlee Rose

Shirlee Rose Luby Sahs, 80, of Lincoln, died Tuesday, April 16, 2013. Memorial services will be held Saturday, April 27 at 11:30 a.m. at Lincoln Memorial Park and Funeral Home, 6800 South 14th Street in Lincoln. Shirlee Rose Luby Sahs, daughter of Clara and John Joseph Luby, was born August 31, 1932 on the family homestead in Giltner. At an early age she began helping to prepare large meals for farm laborers. Initially settling in the suburbs of Detroit, Mich., following her marriage to John Sahs, Shirlee and her growing family soon settled in on an acreage in Rochester, Minn. from the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s. During this time, Shirlee also found time to be a member of the Stagecrafters theater group. Shirlee was the archetypal homemaker for the coming decades, embracing and dedicating her time and life to raising seven children. She returned to Nebraska in the spring of 1970, residing for a few years in a home in east Lincoln, and later settling in south Lincoln for the next 30+ years. Later Shirlee agreed to house and feed four Vietnamese refugee’s who needed temporary housing while they settled in Lincoln. Shirlee found time to work as assistant manager of the Heritage Craft Shop and was also a regular volunteer at the Chet Ager Nature Center. Shirlee was able to travel with two of her sisters to her family homeland of Ireland before her quality of life was impacted by Alzheimer’s disease in the early 2000s. Shirlee and John celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in August 2012 with friends and family, including the staff of the Homestead Rehabilitation Center where both have resided since 2006. Survivors include her husband, John; seven children, Linda, Tanya, Jeff, Jan, Will, Matt and Jennifer 11 grandchildren; two sisters Dorothy and Betty, and many nieces and nephews. Donations in Shirlee’s memory are suggested to the Pioneers Park Nature Center. http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/parks/naturecenter/support.htm