August 27, 2025
Some of you have heard me say that I’m second-generation clergy, but that I was ordained first. It’s true. My father, the Rev. Lynn W. Anderson, was ordained in 1996 after retiring from a long and well-respected career as a public school educator. I went straight from college to seminary and into ministry, so I was ordained in 1988.
It would also be true to say that I’m second-generation clergy twice, because my dad met a wonderful woman while studying at Andover Newton Theological School. She became the Rev. Shirley P. Anderson, stepmother to me and my brother, and grandmother to my children. She served churches in Connecticut and Massachusetts with a smiling spirit that comforted and encouraged a fainting heart. She loved the presence of other people, whether they were family, congregation members, or former-strangers-now-friends.
She always asked the names of servers in restaurants and she always remembered them. And as my dad said any number of times, she closed every place she ever visited, staying engaged in talking story until it was somewhat past time to go home.
Sadly, Shirley Anderson died on August 13 at her home in Watertown, New York. She leaves two children and their spouses, two stepchildren and one spouse, and seven grandchildren.
She also leaves a witness to God’s grace and love that will live on in the hearts of so many who worked with her, listened to her, poured out their hearts to her, or just listened to the pure merriment of her laughter. Like few I have known, she revealed what is great about Christians, the Christian faith, and Christ himself: a compassionate heart.
Mahalo nui loa, ke Akua, for Shirley Anderson.
In peace,
Pastor Eric
The photo is of the Rev. Shirley Anderson at her retirement service in 2009. Photo by Eric Anderson.
