Shirley Appelgate

Shirley Appelgate, 94, of West Palm Beach, Florida and formerly of Toledo, Iowa entered into the gates of heaven on the morning of October 31, 2021 at Trustbridge Hospice in West Palm Beach Florida.

Services for Shirley will be held on Monday, November 8, 2021 at the Mitchell Family Funeral Home beginning at 11:00 a.m. A visitation for family and friends will be held one hour prior to services. She will be laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo, Iowa. Memorials in Shirley’s name may be directed to The Dravet Syndrome Foundation, Inc. PO Box 3026, Cherry Hill, NJ (www.dravetfoundation.org/donate/). For additional information or to send a condolence to the family please visit www.mitchellfh.com or call 641-844-1234.

Shirley Mae Bryant was born January 13, 1927 to parents Thomas J. and Esther (Giger) Bryant in rural Tama county. She attended school and graduated from Tama High School in 1943 at the age of 16. She then attended Cornell College following high school.

On December 31, 1947, she was united in marriage to the love of her life Dwight Appelgate at the First Methodist Church in Toledo, Iowa. She and Dwight were longtime residents of Toledo and Marshalltown. They began their lives together as she worked first as a legal secretary for Mike Mickelson in Toledo, then as the longtime bookkeeper for Dwight’s Store for Gentlemen & Their Sons, and eventually as a teller for Marshalltown Savings & Loan. In addition, she always took loving care of her family of five, parents and aunt.

She was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Toledo, Hope United Methodist Church in Marshalltown, the Rose Hill Society in Toledo, Marshalltown Legion Auxiliary, United Methodist Women, T.T.T. in Marshalltown, numerous card clubs, was a cub scout den mother and was always quick to volunteer for any Tama-Toledo community activities.

In her free time, she loved to spend time with all of her family, work through puzzle books, reading the daily newspaper from cover to cover, watching the Game Show Channel, playing bridge and watching Iowa Hawkeye football and basketball.

Shirley is survived by her children Linda (Jim) Walsh and Tom (Teresa) Appelgate; her daughter-in-law Sharlene Appelgate; her grandchildren, Ryan (Kelli) Walsh, Angela (Brian) Hoisington, Stephanie (Joe) Siskind, Ben (Meg) Appelgate, Whitney (Nate) Batt, and Lauren (John) Fernandez; her great- grandchildren, Hayden, Dillon, Emily, Jake, Amy, Ashley, Mallory, Austin, Avery, Addison, Spencer, Jackson A., Bentley, John Matthew, Jordan, Jackson F., Cooper and Colton; and several great-great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years Dwight Appelgate; her son, Denny Appelgate; her parents, Thomas J. and Esther Bryant; her brother Thomas Keith Bryant; and her aunt Lucy “Auntie Lu” Giger.