Shirley Jean Boring

Shirley Jean (née Bable) Boring (1938-2025)

Shirley Jean (née Bable) Boring entered eternal rest with the Lord on July 25, 2025. She was 87.

Born May 8, 1938 to Meryil Berton Bable and Carrie Opal (née Bass) Bable of Point Rock, Ohio, Shirley grew up in Middleport, Ohio, along the Ohio River, where she attended Middleport Schools before meeting the love of her life, Max Boring. A mutual friend introduced the two when Max was playing guitar and singing in a band. Shirley thought he “looked as handsome as Elvis,” and the two became inseparable, eventually marrying on January 11, 1964 and settling in Columbus, Ohio, where they became the proud parents of three daughters, Diana, Valorie, and Lori.

A selfless, faithful Christian who lived out Matthew 25:35, Shirley treated everyone like family. If someone was hungry, she insisted they stay for dinner, and if she learned of a need of any kind, she tried her best to meet it. Friends and neighbors were welcome to walk in without knocking. In the early 1980s, she even invited two Mormon missionaries to come back again and again over a span of two years. With each visit, she would lovingly make them a sandwich, offer a glass of lemonade, and proceed to debate the Bible with them. Eventually they figured out that it was her way of ministering to them, but they loved her company and appreciated the lunches and conversation.

Outside of chats with strangers who always became friends, Shirley was a budding artist, who loved to draw cartoons of people in her youth. She also enjoyed ceramics and cake decorating, and she never missed an opportunity to color with all the children in her family, proving that age is only a number as she was always a kid at heart. Additionally, Shirley was a voracious reader with a particular interest in mysteries, and while she never pursued journalism professionally, one daughter joked that her love of people and learning would have made her a natural in the field. Her lengthy chats were legendary and often reminiscent of Q&A sessions, as she always seemed to be trying to get to the bottom of whatever topic/problem/ailment was being discussed. Her own stories about her family’s hijinks, her love of her mother’s pies, and her sense of humor will equally be remembered by all who knew her.

After more than three decades in the Columbus area, specifically Grandview Heights, Shirley and Max decided to return to their roots in southern Ohio, where they spent their retirement years living in Racine before moving closer to family in Columbus for health reasons. To this day, the family cherishes the shared memories of country life.

A longtime member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and lifelong homemaker, Shirley lived as she loved, and what mattered most to her were her family, friends, and faith in Jesus Christ. Over the course of 60 years, Shirley lost all of her immediate family, including her beloved husband, daughter, and three grandchildren, yet she never wavered in her faith and, in the process, modeled for all the power of Christian living.

Shirley is survived by her daughter Diana Higginbotham of Racine, Ohio, daughter Lori (Jim) German of Upper Arlington, Ohio; grandchildren, Michael (Amanda) Higginbotham of Racine, Ohio, Erin (Kale) Houck of Wilmington, Ohio, and John German of Upper Arlington, Ohio, along with five great-grandchildren, countless devoted nieces and nephews, and her lifelong friend Doris Roof and dear friend Beverly Crist. Shirley was predeceased by her husband Max L. Boring, daughter Valorie Boring, grandsons infant twins and Christopher Higginbotham, her parents, Bert and Carrie, and all of her siblings, James Bable, Ferndora Kurelic, and Wanda Johnson.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, August 1, 2025, at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 766 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio. A funeral service will immediately follow at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Wes Hromowyk officiating. A luncheon will follow the service. Those gathering will then depart at 1 p.m. for the interment at Reedsville Cemetery in Meigs County, Ohio. All arrangements are being handled by White Funeral Home in Coolville, Ohio.

Donations in memory of Shirley may be sent to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which Shirley and Max regularly supported, or to Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” - Matthew 25:35