Shirley Hill Tassin, age 89, of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, passed away peacefully October 16th, 2024, where she'd lived with her husband of 70 years, Myron Tassin, Sr., until his passing a year ago.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents: John Thomas Hill and Eunice LeJeune Hill, and siblings Neff Lynn, Elaine Hill Brandao, J.T. (John Thomas, Jr.) and Ray.  She is survived by her children: Myron, Jr. (Mike), Tim and wife Debbie, Jay and partner Brent, and Anne Tassin Winjum and husband Brent, as well as fifteen grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren, and many beloved nieces and nephews.  Most of that group and their spouses last gathered in Miramar Beach to celebrate Shirley and Myron in February of 2023.

Shirley, a Baton Rouge native, met Myron, an LSU freshman, at her St. Joseph's Academy high school dance.  Both insisted it was love at first sight.  The LSU Chapel's Father Borders convinced their parents that Shirley and Myron would make a strong if young couple.   They married at 18 and 20, the day after Christmas, then drove to Destin, with just $50 and an old car, for a happy, chilly beach honeymoon.

Though an excellent LSU student, Shirley stopped shy of a degree to work as a secretary and help fund Myron's remaining college years.  She became a full-time mother and homemaker at twenty when Mike (Myron, Jr.), was born.

Shirley and Myron shared a love of food and cooking together. She learned from his mother to cook Myron's native Cajun dishes, much to the delight of all.  She was a kind mother, waking each kid with a gentle backrub and a bedside demitasse of cafe-au-lait, then serving requests from a griddle and toaster across the kitchen/breakfast bar.

Gardening and sewing came easily to Shirley.  And she was widely read, making her a talented tutor for her young children.  She fell in love with sailing when Myron surprised her with a Sunfish sailboat on Mother's Day at their Waveland beach home.  Returning home from school, their youngest kids would often spot them near the horizon of the Mississippi Sound and call them in.

Shirley enjoyed working as Myron's research aide for the historic books he wrote and published, including one commissioned by Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.  After Myron retired from a full-time office job, he and Shirley invested in and improved land, homes and cabins across Louisiana, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Colorado's mountains and, finally, the Florida Panhandle.  They were a team and, as loving, devoted parents, shared those adventures with their growing family, and friends, old and new.

Shirley led a Crested Butte ladies mountain hiking group into her 70s, gracing the local paper's cover in a photo of her cresting a ridge with the treasured, just-right aspen walking stick Myron had fashioned from a fallen limb.  They also enjoyed ice skating at the Broadmoor Hotel near their Colorado Springs home, and on the pond at their Westcliffe, Colorado cabin.

Devout and generous Catholics, Shirley and Myron enjoyed singing in church choirs.  They brought religion home to family and friends by welcoming parish priests to gatherings that included a bible study group. They enjoyed helping those in need, and created a dental charity.  We, their family, are in turn very grateful for the extraordinarily skilled, compassionate caregivers who eased their way and helped them find joy in their final years.

As close as they had been through their many life adventures, Shirley eventually said, "I just hope we go together."  That was not to be, but she followed Myron two days shy of the first anniversary of his passing.  We bid them farewell, filled with the fondest of memories, as they sail across the horizon.

Celebration of Life services will be held at 1:30 PM, Saturday, January 18, 2025 at Saint Rita Catholic Church; 222 Saint Rita Lane, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida; with Father Michael Hartley officiating.