In Memory of
MABEL AGNES SHIFFLETT WEST
1919 - 2009
on Wednesday evening, July 8, 2009. Her homegoing was very peaceful with friends and family singing hymns around her bedside. Had she lived until August 28 she would have been 90 years old. Her health had been failing for an extended
period of time.
Mabel was born on August 28, 1919 near Beldor, Rockingham Co, VA to Alexander and Myrtie Anne Elizabeth Davis Shifflett. In 1929, her family moved from the mountains of Virginia to Ringgold, MD. Mabel graduated from Smithsburg High School in 1937. In 1939 she completed one year of nursing school at Baltimore Spring Grove Hospital graduating with a PRN. Health issues greatly impacted her steady employment over the next few years. The Baltimore Nurses Registry employed her as a private nurse. Other nursing employment through the early 1960's included working at Pine Bluff Mental Hospital in NC, Anderson Nursing Home in Baltimore, Portsmouth Virginia Nurses Registry, Norfolk General Hospital, Leigh Memorial and Lake Taylor Hospitals, both in Norfolk VA. She married the love of her life, Gordon Robert West on January 21, 1949 in Williamsburg, Virginia.
In 1976 Mabel and her husband Gordon R West Sr moved from Norfolk to Oklahoma City to live closer to their son and daughter-in-law. Before coming to Oklahoma City, she was a long time member of the Norfolk 1st Pentecostal Holiness Church in VA. In Oklahoma City she attended the Muse Memorial Church (now River of Life) where, before retirement, she and her husband served a number of years as custodians. She was a devoted Christian and actively involved in her church.
Her survivors include a son, Laban Paul West, and his wife, Susie Faulkner West, of Yukon OK; two grandchildren, Benjamin Faulkner West, and his wife Deysi Rojas Espinoza West, of China; Zachary Paul West of Yukon, and fianc�e Alicia Hutson of Claremore Ok; three great-grandchildren, Gabriel Benjamin West, Ariel Susana West, and Abriana Isabel West, of China, and numerous nephews, nieces, and cousins. Her husband, Gordon R.West and five brothers and sisters preceded her in death.
The family greeted visitors at Yanda Funeral Home, 1550 West Vandament, Yukon, Oklahoma on Sunday evening, July 12, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00pm. The funeral service was held at River of Life Church, 6901 NW 150th St, Oklahoma City, OK on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 10 AM with interment at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, Oklahoma City, immediately following.
"SINGING PRAISES TO HER LORD"
She has joined the heavenly choir, Singing praises to her Lord
Her work on earth is done, She now has her reward,
We do not understand the reason for her leaving
But we know that god above will help us in our grieving.
All her friends and family shall miss her oh so much
Her kind and thoughtful ways and warm embracing touch.
Her suffering now is over, No more pain she has to face
She has heavenly healing through God's amazing grace.
She will always be remembered in so many different ways
For all the years we had her to God we give the praise.
By Cheryl Shifflett, Mabel's Niece
Background music, Wonderful Grace of Jesus, one of Mabel's many favorite hymns.