Shirley K. Begley
My beautiful mother Shirley Klug Begley died 1:23 pm on May 11,2026 after a short illness. She was surrounded by family and took her last breath at the end of the song she had told me years ago was our dad's and her song I honestly Love you by Olivia Newton John. I feel like that was a sign that she could hear the song and that he had come to get her. They'd been apart 51 years. He passed when my sister was 7 and I was 4 and a 1/2. She was left to raise us on her own. But because we have such an amazing family, she didn't have to do it alone. Our Grandpa Harvey and Granny Klug were such amazing grandparents. Our Aunt Sandra and Uncle Phillip helped raise us alongside our beautiful cousin Michelle. We have been blessed to always have been surrounded by love and support.
Our mother was selfless in the things she did for everyone. She was told by a school counselor that she would only be able to work in a factory because she just wasn't smart enough. Like people that work in factories aren't smart and hard workers. And she believed that lie but never realized how wrong that person was. She was a hairdresser but went to work in our grandparent's motel to help them out after our dad died. She worked hard cleaning rooms, doing laundry and working the front desk when needed. She loved horses. She got her first horse when she was 16. Her Aunt Margie saw a sign when she was coming here from Virginia Beach that there was a horse for sale, and she told my grandma about it, and they went and looked at it and that's the horse they got for our mom. Her name was Popover and that's when her dedication to loving horses began. And when I say dedication, I mean dedication. When our dad died, we moved into the motel that my grandparents owned. But we still had the farm where she had her horses (she had 4 by then) so every night of my childhood I remember her having to leave to go feed the horses. And I always loved when I got to come with her when she did it. I think it was a solace for her, but I remember every Thanksgiving every Christmas she would always leave to go feed the horses. And she usually didn't eat until after the horses ate. My grandmother and my aunt Sandra we're both nurses and I remember how she would say they were so smart and she could never do anything like that. But my Aunt Theda had a stroke and was unable to walk and talk and my mom took care of her. She turned her over in the bed she got her up put her in the chair helped bathe her, fed her took care of all her bed sores and showed amazing dedication to my great aunt. And when she became a grandmother her dedication to them was unbound. She loved her grandkids so much. She was so proud of all 7 of them. My daughters Alonee and Laila developed her love of horses. And she loved sharing that bond with them. She was a grandmother to not only her grandkids but a lot of other kids as well especially in the horse community. She was also another mom to my best friend. I had recently told her not to sell herself short she was way smarter than she thought she was and had done so many things she was a hairdresser, nurse, vet, she was a daughter, sister, aunt, grandma and the best Mom anyone could ask for. And I Love her.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Juanita and Harvey Klug; husband, Ernie Begley; and her aunt, Margie Miles.
Left to cherish her memories are her daughters, Janice and Jaunita Begley; grandchildren, Rebeka, Alonee, Brendan, Trey, Laila, Domonic, and TJ; sister, Sandra Bennington (Phillip) and their daughter Michelle Lewis and family; numerous cousins and all her Norfolk and Virginia Beach family.
Please continue to check for an updated day and time for Shirley's memorial service.
