Shirley Ann Salaam

Shirley Ann Salaam, 84, born on March 31, 1936, in Panama City, Panama, passed away on December 18, 2020. She resided in Long Beach, CA at the time of her passing. Services will be held on January 4th from 9:00 am to 11:30 AM PST under the direction of Forest Lawn, Cypress, California and Pastor Larry D. Weaver. Due to COVID-19, a live recording of the service will be available.

Shirley Salaam (March 31, 1936 - December 18. 2020)

Shirley Salaam was born in Panama City, Panama, to James and Olga. She is the youngest of 5 siblings: Mercle, Celestine, Earl, and Connie. She enjoyed attending a private school and a well-to-do life until the untimely passing of her father. Shirley attended high school at the Instituto Nacional. When she graduated, she attended the local college and loved working as an unofficial hairstylist until the age of 24. In 1959, her mother moved to the US on a domestic work Visa. Two years later, she sent for Shirley and Connie.

In 1962, she met and married Teddy James. They had two children Cheryl and Sherwin.

In 1969, Shirley moved to California with her two children and took a temporary job as a keypunch operator for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Six months later, she became a permanent employee and remained employed at the Los Angeles County Office of Education, moving from keypunch operator to data analyst, to renowned Special Education Data Analyst and programmer. She was known throughout the entire county of Los Angeles for being able to debug special education reports, systems, and programs.

When Shirley moved to California in 1969, she continued her education at Southwest Community College, earning her AA degree and later a BS in Business Administration at California State University Dominguez Hills and a lifetime teaching credential for the community college. In the early 1980s, Shirley began a part-time teaching career at Cerritos Community College. This was in addition to her full-time job at the LA County Office of Education. Shirley taught Introduction to Computers, English as a Second Language, and US Constitution for Immigrants, among other courses during her 22-year career at Cerritos College where she changed many students' lives, especially new immigrants.

While Shirley was busy working her day job and side hustle, she was also orchestrating with her mother, Olga, to change the life trajectory of many family members. So beginning in 1964, Shirley and Olga started orchestrating the relocations. Together, they coordinated and made over a dozen life-changing moves. Starting with her eldest sister's daughter Eliva Yard then later Theresita Yard; her brother's son, Enrique Blythe; her eldest brothers children, Fernando, Lydia, Damaris, and Tony; her cousin's children Rico, Elvia and Russ; her friend's son, Silio, her ex-husband's children Nellie and Clifford James and finally her eldest sister, Mercle's youngest daughter, Jackie Yard. She also helped many people settle in New York, one of those was her compadre, Vernon Brooks. In all, Shirley and her mother helped over a dozen family members immigrate to and settle in the United States.

In 1974, Shirley met Jerrel. A year later, they were married. During their time together, Jerrel graciously shared his home with the new immigrants as many passed through their home on their way to New York, where Una Olga and other family members helped them settle. Jerrel and Shirley had one child, Ameerah Salaam. The family enjoyed annual Christmas road trips to Mississippi to visit Jerrel's family. Shirley became a sister to the Malone clan. Shirley loved people and enjoyed celebrating and learning about new cultures.

In the 1980s, Shirley's eldest daughter attended the University of California Santa Barbara, and Shirley enjoyed personally delivering care packages every month, and no doubt checking on her eldest daughter as well. Jerrel was happy to hear the stories.

From the early 80s to the mid-90s, she participated in the annual Panamanian reunion held in different states across the US. This gave her the time to meet up with old friends from Panama, catch up on the latest news, eat Panamanian meals, and dance until the wee hours of the morning. In the late '80s, she began traveling abroad, first making several trips to Cancún for the Cancún Jazz festival, which she thoroughly loved, and of course, more trips to Panama. In the early 90s, Shirley added cruises to the Caribbean and Alaska. In the 2000s, she traveled to China, Greece, Spain, and other countries.

In the late 80s, one of Shirley's students at Cerritos Community College invited her to visit Friendship Baptist Church in Yorba Linda, California. Shirley joined the church. In 2001, when Deacon Larry D. Weaver of Friendship became Senior Pastor at Atherton Baptist Church in Hawthorne, California, Shirley moved with him and his wife, Patricia Weaver, the friend from the Community College who had initially invited her to the church in Fullerton to Hawthorne. She was one of the first members to join the church under the then-new Pastor, Larry D. Weaver. Shirley was President of the Deaconess Ministry until stepping down to spend more time with her grandchildren. Nevertheless, she remained a deaconess until her death, with a secure spot in the front of the sanctuary every Sunday. She was a role model, demonstrating how to give and love thy neighbor, and was an integral part of the Atherton family.

On September 11, 2001, another life-changing event happened to Shirley. Her first grandchild, Jade Ann Rabb, was born! Shirley had six grandchildren in all. To spend as much time as she could with her grandkids, Shirley split time between her own home and that of her two girls, Cheryl and Ameerah. She volunteered in her grandkids classrooms in Long Beach and San Diego. She was well known and loved by teachers and the principals at her grandchildren's schools. Nothing brought her greater joy than spending time with her grandchildren, so it's fitting that two nights before she died, two of her granddaughters put on a fashion show for her and made her a special breakfast on her last living morning.

Shirley died sometime in the early morning on Friday, December 18, 2020. We know that she is in Heaven because she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and enjoyed reading the word and praying until her last breath. She was a good and faithful servant and an example of what it means to be a Christian.
She is survived by her older sister Constance McFarlane, her three children, Cheryl, Ameerah, and Sherwin, and her six grandchildren Jade, Jordan, Jerne, James, DeShawn Jr., and Jerrel.