Shirley Arlene Gruber of Lincoln, KS departed life on June 22, 2024 at the Lincoln County Hospital. She was born the second to the youngest child of Dewey E. and Dora D. (Lawlis) Daily in Salina, KS on September 25, 1927. She enjoyed music growing up and learned to play the accordion and organ, most songs she could play by ear. She grew up with a piano in the house and any free time was spent playing a tune. “How Great Thou Art” was a particular favorite. Her father was a conductor for the Union Pacific Railroad and Shirley enjoyed taking trips with him on the train. She also enjoyed helping her mom work at the Ashford Hotel not far from where their home was. She attended Hawthorne Elementary and graduated from Salina High School in 1945 with honors in music and business. Music was something she carried a love for all her life. She received a national certificate of typing proficiency. She went on to graduate from Brown Mackie College in business at Salina. She started work at the Roy Omer Insurance Agency as a stenographer and worked for a lawyer after that. She was a veteran softball player and played on the YMCA girls’ team and the Reese and Monroe teams. She was the team’s “Home Run Hitter”. She met the love of her life, Clifton R. Gruber, at a USO dance and they were married in a Palm Sunday Ceremony April 10, 1949 at the Grand Avenue Methodist Church in Salina, KS. They started housekeeping at 1104 State Street in Salina. She became a homemaker in 1952 when they moved to a farm near New Cambria. During these years she served as President of the literary society at Schippel School and played for many programs and dances. They moved to Carlton, KS in 1962 and then to her husband’s aunt’s farm in Barnard in 1965. Shirley and Clifton were seen at about every dance in the area and loved a good polka. Usually if they weren’t dancing it was because she was playing the accordion. She could sew anything back together and she made quite a few articles of clothing for the family. She was an excellent cook. She even drove the gravel truck for the Lincoln County Road Department for a time. Soil conservation was very important to them, having the site #38 dam of the Salt Creek Watershed and receiving the Kansas State Banker’s Soil Conservation Award in 1959. She was a member of the Methodist Church of Barnard. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents and three siblings. She is survived by four children, John Gruber of Lincoln, Shirley(Randy) Chapman of Glasco, Jo(Gregg) Olson of Barnard and Dora(Tim) Schroeder of Beverly. She also is survived by one sister, Barbara and a host of grandchildren and great grandchildren and nieces and nephews. Memorials can be given to the Methodist Church of Barnard, c/o, Hall Chapel, PO Box 37, Lincoln, KS 67455. A graveside service officiated by Father Mark Wesely will be held at 11:00 a.m., September 21, 2024 at Highland Cemetery, north of New Cambria, KS. Luncheon to follow at New Cambria Peace Lutheran Church Parish Hall.