There are 100 cookies with Shirley Madden’s picture on them in the freezer at Sunrise Terrace Care Center in Winfield, waiting for her extra-special birthday party on Valentine’s Day. Shirley Madden will be 100 years young! But it isn’t any ole picture on the cookies. No. It’s the picture her husband Robert (Bud) Madden took of her when they were newly married. Woo Woo! It was the only picture he was allowed to keep on his person while in the Navy during World War II. He would place the picture above his upper bunk on the ship he was on during WW II, a Destroyer Escort.

Shirley was the second oldest of four girls raised by Luella and Perry Mathews on a farm, called Poverty Hill, in Canaan Township, northeast of Mt. Pleasant. She attended Pleasant Lawn School where her Grandfather was on the school board. They wanted her father to be Superintendent but he was off for WW I at the time. Friends encouraged Shirley to attend Wellesley Girls’ College in Massachusetts, but she wasn’t interested. Shirley had her own education in mind–marriage. Naysayers said it would never last. It lasted 71 years.

Shirley did a little bit of everything during WW II. Bud was stationed in New London, Connecticut, so Shirley moved to Chicago so she could be closer to him. If she opened the window to her tiny apartment, she could hear cheering at Wrigley Field. But she never went to a game. They were saving money so they could buy a farm. Shirley worked for the Rock Island Railroad. When Bud had time off, he hopped a train and traveled to Chicago so they could be together.

Bud’s destroyer was home stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. On one Atlantic convoy, Bud came down with appendicitis. Fuel oil leaked into the galley of the ship, contaminating food. Bud ate bread made from flour that had diesel in it, and got sick. They were going back to Iowa before he was shipped to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. He was so sick they got him to a doctor in Galesburg, IL. But Bud pushed on to Iowa. He wanted to get Shirley home before he had anything done. Finally, in Ft. Madison, he had his appendix removed. They had to pay for the surgery out of their own pocket because he was on leave.

Shirley moved to New York City and lived in an apartment under the Brooklyn Bridge so she could see Bud when his ship came back to port. She worked for the New York Central Railroad. She got on the subway and rode to Times Square, and then took the train to Grand Central Station. From there she walked a block to the New York Central Building.

When Bud was going to school in New Jersey, Shirley modeled swimsuits on the Board Walk. She was told to smile. The swimsuits were the two-piece kind that showed two inches of midriff. Scandalous! She was paid one cent for each dollar of material that was sold.

There was also a defense plant in Atlantic City where she worked. She was Rosie the Riveter making Fire Bombs. But she could wear jeans!

When Bud got out of the Navy, they headed back to Iowa. He went to work at the Ordinance Plant in Middletown, driving a bus. They lived at the Ordinance Plant.

They were able to buy their first farm from Shirley’s grandparents. They had purebred, registered Holsteins and a 1,000 chicken-layer business. When that was no longer profitable, they raised hogs. The three children born to Shirley and Bud Madden are Sandy, Kenneth (Kenny) and Kathy.

When asked what her secret to longevity is, Shirley doesn’t hesitate, “Stubbornness, by golly.”

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Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm

in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, email him at

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