THE ADVOCATE 751
VOL. 79 PART 5 SEPTEMBER 2021
Shirley maintained her membership with the Law Society and in 2016
attended a luncheon with a number of other colleagues (all men) to recognize
them for 60 years in the Law Society.
They each received a certificate that recognized them for 60 years in the
Law Society following, of course, “his call to the bar”. Shirley got a good
laugh out of that, and to its credit the Law Society immediately provided a
replacement certificate with the word “her”.
In the same article referred to above, which was written during the time
she served on the bench, Shirley said:
The system has certainly changed for the better over the years. We have
a Provincial Court of which we’re justly proud. The judiciary and the profession
as a whole welcome women as colleagues. There are battles to be
fought and won, but gender equality I think has been largely achieved.
One might quibble with the last point, but there is no disputing that there
are far more female lawyers and judges than there were when Shirley
signed up for law school.
When she was not busy with work, Shirley had many great travelling
adventures, including to watch some of the major tennis tournaments and
skating championships around the world. She was also a voracious reader,
with crime novels being among her favourite genres.
In the years following her retirement from active practice, Shirley kept
herself busy with daily walks, working in her beloved gardens, advocating
to make sure that Paul got all of the assistance he needed, until he passed
away in 2017, and following the exploits of her seven grandchildren. To
Shirley’s great delight, her grandson David was called to the bar in 2019,
making it four generations of lawyers in her family.
Shirley was fortunate that she retained her faculties and was able to
remain in the family home of 52 years until just before her passing. She
basically died of old age, not long before she would have had her 90th birthday.
Her illness was brief and all of her surviving children were able to
spend time with her during her final days, while her mind was still sharp.
Shirley was intelligent, independent, determined and generous. She was
highly respected as a lawyer and a judge by her clients, office and courthouse
staff, and her peers among lawyers and judges. She is sadly missed.
Lesley, Ian and Pat Giroday