Etoile Akers "Jolly" Shefler

Etoile Akers Shefler was born in Ranger, Texas almost 87 years ago. On Tuesday, May 19, 2009 she left this world and is now at home with the Lord Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 am Saturday, May 23, 2009 at the Stephenville Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will be held at 3:00 pm Saturday at the Oakwood Cemetery in Cisco. Jolly was the oldest of five children, and was the only girl among four brothers. As a teenager she left Texas and ended up in California, where she found employment with a construction company. The company won a contract to build the Naval Ordinance Test Station (N.O.T.S.), so Jolly moved to China Lake with the first inhabitants. She met Sydney Shefler, an engineer at N.O.T.S. in those ‘early days', and they married and raised their three children on base. Being sociable and wanting to be involved with her children, Etoile volunteered in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the PTA, the youth group at Immanuel Baptist Church, and elsewhere. Jolly returned to work outside the home when her children became teenagers, as a curriculum coordinator for the local school. When her husband died in the early 1980's, she packed up and moved back to Texas where she lived on a little ranch, and raised cattle, enjoying Texas life and Texas people. She leaves behind three brothers, Larkin, Ommer, and Tim Akers; a son, Stan Shefler and his wife Vicki, their daughter, Suzanne and her husband Tim, their daughters, Sydney and Hallie; a daughter, Jan Boyd and her husband Phil, their daughter Karen, and their son, Andy; She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Sydney; a son, Michael; and a brother, Prinnis.