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Benton Nov. 10, 1938 | Jul. 22, 2025
Benton | Nov. 10, 1938 | Jul. 22, 2025
On Tuesday morning, July 22, 2025, Shirley Ann Wylie Cothran, aged 86, went to be with her Lord Jesus and loved ones who preceded her in death. There is joy in Heaven, but there is sorrow here.

Shirley was born to R.L. and Oma Lee Wylie on a cotton farm in Gibson County, Tennessee, near the town of Kenton, on November 10,1938. It was near the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. Everybody was living through hard times. Family farms used family labor. Oma Lee carried the babies to the cotton field. They were working in the fields before they started school. The school year was scheduled around the cotton crop, so that the children would be free to help in the fields when they were most needed. By the time she was 12 years old, Shirley was doing a man's job, picking 300 pounds of cotton per day.

The most important event of Shirley's life occurred when she was 11 years old, at Morella Cumberland Presbyterian Church. When the invitation started, she clearly heard a voice call, “Shirley”. She went forward and gave her life to Jesus. She never looked back.

When she was in her early teens, the family moved into the town of Kenton, right across the street from the school. Shirley graduated as valedictorian. She continued to pick cotton, and worked afternoons at the local drug store. She had a goal. Since second grade, she had known she wanted to be a nurse. She won a scholarship to Murray State University. She entered nursing school and met the love of her life, Jack Leslie Cothran, Jr. He was a senior and she was a freshman when they met. He was drafted two weeks after he graduated, and they were separated by the Pacific Ocean, while Jack served in the United States Army in Hawaii. He finished his two years in the summer of 1959. Shirley graduated at the end of August, 1959. They were married September 27, 1959. They began their life together in Lyon County, KY, Between the Rivers. When the TVA took away their farms, home and church they moved to Livingston County, KY., still between the same rivers. There they built and spent a wonderful life together. They were, and are, equally yoked. Together, they built a life of love for God, each other, and their three children.

After one year teaching school, Shirley began a 46 year career as a Registered Nurse at Benton Municipal Hospital, which later became Marshall County Hospital. There, she met her best of friends, Donna Starks, and a bit later, Phyllis Blackwell. She was Supervisor of Surgery, and Supervisor of a busy household. She was a full-time wife, a full-time mother, and a full-time nurse. She was Jack's helpmate, as he was hers, in every way. Her garden and yard were tended, her freezers and pantry were full, her family was well clothed, her house was clean, and her family and her families’ friends were loved.

Shirley was a cook among cooks. She learned from great cooks, and learned to cook even better than they did. She totally filled her Ford Expedition, from front floorboard to tailgate, for every Church Dinner. She cooked her last Meal for her church for Thanksgiving of 2024. Like everything else she made, her Turkey and Dressing with all the fixings was legendary. She cooked it again for her family Christmas Dinner in 2024, and for the last time on earth, in April, 2025, for Easter dinner with her family. God gives us positions of service in Heaven, and Shirley may be cooking the Turkey and Dressing up there.

Never in their lives did Shirley's family go to bed at night without knowing they were loved. It is too easy to take that kind of love for granted. No one deserves to be loved like Shirley loves her family, and no one can really fill her shoes. If such love was for sale, there would not be enough money to buy it. There is no greater legacy to leave than such a legacy of love.

Shirley was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Jack Leslie Cothran, Jr., and her parents, R.L. and Oma Lee Wylie. She is survived by her daughter, Kelly Wright and husband Ron, her daughter Tracy Cothran and Cap Kash, and her son Jack Hayden Cothran and wife Leslie. She is also survived by her granddaughter Viva LeeAnna Koenig and her husband Thomas Koenig; her grandson Grayson Miller Smallwood, and her granddaughter Hayden Kate Cothran. According to her grandchildren, she was the best grandma in the world. Surviving her is her beloved sister, Jolyn Wylie Pearce, brother Larry Wylie and wife Helen, brother-in-law Charles Cothran and wife Ernestine, and several nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.

Funeral Services will be held at Friendship Baptist Church on Sunday, August 3 at 2:30 pm., with Brother Rex Jones and Brother Andrew Sexton officiating. Burial follows at Miller Cemetery. Visitation precedes the funeral from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Expressions of Sympathy may take the form of flowers or contributions to Friendship Baptist Church.

After about three decades of marriage, Jack started leaving Shirley little love notes every morning. One of them reads:
“Hey Beautiful, Precious Lady,
I love you much. Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be. You don't need to get
any better,
you don't tamper with perfection…
Your loving husband,
Dad”
The best is no longer yet to be for Shirley and Jack. They are there.

Collier Funeral Home
211 West 5th Street
Benton, KY 42025
Email : info@collierfuneralhome.com Phone : (270) 527-3141