Shirley Anne Hayden

Shirley passed away at Brandon Regional Health Centre on Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 after a brief stay in hospital and an ongoing battle with lung disease.

Shirley was born on March 1, 1963 in Russell, Manitoba to her Parents Delphine and Archie Hayden and was the fifth child born in her family of nine children.  Shirley was raised close to St. Lazare Manitoba until the family moved to Birtle when she was a child.   Shirley’s mother died when she was 10 years of age and after her mother’s death, she lived with her father until the time of his death when she was 14 years old and then lived with several siblings.

Shirley spent most of her life living in Birtle, Manitoba where she enjoyed her friends, family, bingo, carpet bowling and the First of July celebrations.

Shirley and her sister Sharon were inseparable according to the older sisters. They had their own language as children.  As adults both Shirley and Sharon were known for always helping in the Town of Birtle. Shirley was very close to her sister Sharon who she played with growing up and lived with at different times.  The two were together most of the time. Shirley and Sharon as children took a job delivering papers.  While out on delivery one cold winter day, Sharon made Shirley angry and Shirley left, so Sharon left too.  They left the sled and the papers and their paper delivery career was over.

A funny story the family has shared was one afternoon their Dad asked Shirley to go downtown and get him some beans for the stew he was making.  Taking forever, Shirley came back and Dad opened the bag of beans poured them into the pot with the cooking meat.  After what seemed an eternity, Dad checked the pot but it was full of sticky stuff – it was Tapioca.  Sisters Georgina and Bev who told the story will never be sure if she did that as a joke or not.

Shirley came to live in Russell with Parkland Linc in September 2021 and was legally blind from cataracts at that time.  The surgeon did not think he could correct her vision but thankfully he did. It was a miracle.  With the return of her vision Shirley was flying.  She didn’t miss an event with Parkland Linc.  Cooking, cleaning, crafts, planning and decorating for holidays and parties were Shirley’s favorite activities at Day services.

Shirley loved her family and her special friends. Often, family would visit and take Shirley for coffee and meals – Chicken Chef was a favorite stop. Christmas with Tracey’s family and coffee with Gary every Saturday was an event she looked forward to each week.

The big smile and zest for life was Shirley’s trademark. New experiences such as carnival rides, visiting the zoo and driving through an auto car wash for the first time lit up her life.  Staff of Parkland Linc thought it was very amusing that Shirley was “our best trainer of new staff”, always thoughtful and quick to point out valuable information to them.  Our Shirley will be dearly missed.

At Parkland Linc Day-Services, she was the Master of the kitchen. She enjoyed crafts and all the parties made for all occasions and got along great with all her friends at Parkland Linc.

Staff will miss their chats with Shirley and the way she would wave and smile, the way she wore her favorite hat.

Shirley is predeceased by her parents Delphine and Archie Hayden and leaves to mourn:

Sisters – Irene Houle (Jacques+), Georgina Belhumeur (Lawrence), Bev Lee (Harry+) and Sharon Hayden

Brothers – Archie Hayden (Barb+), Alvin Hayden, John Hayden, Ken Hayden (Melanda)

Nieces and Nephews – Jessica, Gordon, Larry, Stan, Vic, Richard, Sherry, Kelly Lee, Melanie, Archibald, Cindy Copeland, Chanda, Danny, Sherry, Logan, Jordan, Gracie, Keaton, Zach, Shayla

Great Nieces and Nephews – Kingston, Hayden, Kennedy, Logan, Emily, Bailey, Ryan, Jade, Jesse, Chanda, Jayce, Riley, Autumn, Anastasia, Brian, Kelsey, Jaden, Colin, Isabel, Sara

 Special friends - Gary Howe, Tracey Howe, her Room-mate Ella, her Day-Services Buddies and her Parkland Linc Family.