On Thursday, the Lipscomb community hosted a memorial service in celebration of the life of Shirley Boone, the wife of Pat Boone and daughter of Red Foley, and the positive spiritual impact she had on others.
The memorial, held in Collins Alumni Auditorium, was beautiful and respectful, with just the right amount of happy to outweigh the sad.
Julia Gooch, a childhood friend, recounted the story of how she introduced Mr. and Mrs. Boone when they were only young teenagers.
“Their eyes just sparked,” Gooch said. “They were so in love.”
The service was filled with testimony after testimony of the impact Shirley Boone had made on the world and of what an amazing woman she was.
“She excelled at everything she tried, and even things she didn’t try for,” her nephew Grant Boone said.
“Jesus was revealed in Shirley,” her friend Landon Saunders said.
Many recounted how, even in her later years and towards the end, Mrs. Boone never stopped trying to help and minister to others.
“There was no retirement for Shirley Boone,” Rhonda Lowry, the wife of Lipscomb’s president, said. “She did ministry from a chair.”
There were several musical portions of the service, with songs sang by Michel W. Smith and Nicole Mullen, among others, as well as a few video and photo montages of moments from her life.
However, the most touching moment came when her four daughters, Cherry, Lindy, Debby and Laury sang a song together for their mother. Singing was just a part of being Boone, and the daughters were no exception.
“What a gift she gave us,” Debby said. “Harmonizing taught us to listen.”
Their song followed each of them presenting their thoughts and stories about their mother.
“I miss her,” Laury said through tears. “ I miss the connection I felt to her immediately when I called her and said ‘Hi, mama bear.’”
Her husband, Pat Boone, told of how he knew she was special from the start, and how he didn’t even kiss her for the first nine months that they dated. When they did share their first kiss he said that “it was just a peck, but I never recovered.”
Boone passed away on January 11 at the age of 84 with her family by her side. She left behind a legacy that will be remembered for years to come.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb University