Freda Pauline (Ashby) Shellabarger, a former resident of Alliance, passed away Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at Cambridge, NE.
She was born November 4, 1923 in rural Wapello, Iowa to George A. and Bertha (Browning) Ashby and raised in the Christian faith by her parents and her step-mother Orpha who continued to raise her and her sisters after their mother died.
She married her high school sweetheart Mark Shellabarger on February 10, 1944 in Providence, Rhode Island. He preceded her in death in October of 1995.
As a U.S. Navy wife she moved her children from coast to coast until Mark retired from the Navy. They then made their home in Ottumwa, Iowa and Grant, Nebraska. In 1976 they moved to Alliance when her husband became the first administrator of Box Butte General Hospital and Freda was very active in the Hospital Auxiliary. She loved to dance, play bridge, work with flowers and do crafts. She particularly enjoyed their lives as “snow birds” after Mark’s retirement.
She has been a resident of Tri-Valley Assisted Living for the past 6 years in Cambridge, NE.
She is survived by her children, Sharon and husband Dennis Kreinert of Hastings, Paul and wife Shelly of Cambridge and Rodger and wife Linda of Alliance, her 7 grandchildren, Naomi Williams, Mark and Joe Krienert, Cody Shellabarger, Katie Beasley, Stephanie Korth and Tiffany Shellabarger, as well as 5 great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husband and parents, she was also preceded in death by her sisters, Orpha and Geneva.
Graveside services will be Monday, May 6 at 10:00 a.m. at the Alliance Cemetery. Pastor Jim Rowe will officiate. Visitation will be Sunday, May 5 from 1-7 p.m. at the Bates-Gould Funeral Home.
Memorials may be given to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 700, Alliance, NE 69301.
Online condolences may be left at www.batesgould.com.