Shirley Forrey

Shirley (Smith) Forrey was born in 1958 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Brainerd, Minnesota to parents Floyd and Violet (Shamp) Smith and raised in a family of 9 siblings: Mike Smith, Tom Smith, Teresa Chambers, Pat Smith, David Smith, Bill Smith, Lisa Douglas, Mary Roubal, and Gregory Smith. She attended Pine River High School and soon after moved to Denver, Colorado with her sister Teresa. 

 She returned to the Pine River area, married Mike Forrey and had two children, Jim and Holly Forrey, as well as a stepdaughter Nicole Friedman. She has three grandsons, Floyd and Ren Forrey, and SonnyRey Anderson, and two step grandsons, Kaleb and Blake Friedman. She bought Kensack Karpets in Hackensack from her brother and served the community for 40 years as a woman-owned, independent business, ahead of her time. 

 Shirley was fiercely opinionated, rarely mincing words, but had a huge heart, always ready to lend a hand to anyone that needed it and feed anyone that was hungry (including hundreds on Thanksgiving at the Pine River Legion with the Smith family for over two decades). She enjoyed gardening, deer hunting, fishing, and soaking up the sun at the lake. She was a very hard worker and instilled that in her children. Shirley was a true up north woman – able to do anything a man could do while taking care of the kids, cleaning the fish, and feeding her family and anyone else that happened to be hanging out. 

 Shirley was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in December of 2022 and spent almost two years undergoing treatments. In that time, she was able to be present for the birth of two grandsons (in the same week!) and got to take a trip with her kids to Graceland and Gulf Shores. She passed in her own home in her sleep early morning December 20th at the age of 66. 

 She was one of a kind and will be sorely missed. 

Her kids are hosting a Celebration of Life at the Pine River American Legion on Friday, December 27th at 6 PM, and funeral services will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Pine River on Saturday December 28th, 2024, visitation at 11, service at noon. Online donations can be sent via Venmo to @hollyforrey and a contribution will be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Cancer Research Center in Shirley’s name. Cards and donations may also be sent to PO Box 270, Pine River, MN 56474.