Shirley Kruger

After years of battling a long illness Shirley Ann Kruger, a beloved mother, sister, grandmother and friend, was given her last rights on November 16, 2021. She joined our Heavenly Father on the afternoon of November 17, 2021. She is now at peace with her mother, father and younger sister, Patricia (Pat) Kelly.

Shirley was the first child born to Edward and Cecilia Boushek on February 27, 1932. She was born at the family farm in Vesta, Minnesota where she played, worked and lived until she attended Saint Mary's school of nursing in Redwood Falls, Minnesota.

On April 11, 1953 she married Leroy Allen Kruger. They honeymooned taking a road-trip to California stopping along the way at the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. Road trips were something she and her husband enjoyed and would do many times with their growing family over the years.

Shirley and Leroy started a family in Minnesota that consisted of a son and two daughters before they relocated to Santa Ana, California. In 1960, she gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter that completed the Kruger family. Opportunities abounded as Shirley accepted a nursing position at Lanterman State Hospital in Pomona, California where she cared for children and young adults suffering from severe disabilities. In 1967, the family purchased a new home in Chino, California where Shirley would be closer to her job. Her compassion and enjoyment of nursing her patients went on well after retirement when there was a shortage of help at the hospital. Shirley remained in Chino until 2015 when she moved to Pocatello, Idaho to be closer to her daughters.

Shirley was an avid gardener who loved to show off her flowers. She enjoyed crossword puzzles, playing cards (Pinochle and Canasta), genealogy and spoiling her grandchildren.

Shirley is survived by brothers: Robert Boushek and Jerry Boushek; sisters: Mary Arness, Dorthy Bowen, Diane Korkendorfer; her son, Ronald Kruger; daughters: Kathleen Padilla, Karen Lockridge and Kris Kruger; grandchildren: Dominique Padilla, Brian Kruger, Matthew Padilla, Stephen Kirby, Brandon Kruger, Kyndra Byington, Brittany Kruger and 13 great-grandchildren.

Shirley will be interred alongside her parents in Vesta, Minnesota.

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