Shirley Elizabeth Edelbach Kennebeck Heitmann, age 87, passed away on February 12, 2021 in Cane Beds, Arizona. She was surrounded by loved ones.

She was born on January 2, 1934 in Cream, Wisconsin to Melvin and Wilma Edelbach.  She grew up in a large, loving family. On April 25, 1952 Shirley was married to Ervin Kennebeck. She worked full time raising six fine boys, as well as helping her husband with business.  On September 3, 1977, she married Karl Heitmann and they started a window washing company, which they operated for several years in Garland, Texas.

Throughout her life Shirley worked hard, whether tending gardens, canning and making pickles, or cooking for her family and others.  She loved to mow the grass and tend to flower beds.  You would always find her busy doing something.

Shirley is preceded in death by her first husband Ervin Kennebeck and several brothers and a sister.  She is survived by Karl Heitmann, her six sons Tom (Sandy) Kennebeck, Terry (Carolyn) Kennebeck, Mike (Brenda) Kennebeck, Richard (Emma) Kennebeck, Lon (Kathy) Kennebeck and Paul (Merrie Anne) Kennebeck, her sisters Dawn Korb and Ellen Amy, and brother Melvin Edelbach Jr. Shirley was blessed with fifteen grandchildren and twenty-six great-grandchildren.

Shirley was a very humble person and true to her nature, wanted a simple funeral.  She was buried later that afternoon at her community’s cemetery.