Shirley Ann (Ripa) Kasl of Dorchester, was united with her true love, Jr., as she entered her eternal home on Sept. 7, 2026, at Memorial Hospital in Seward, at the age of 91 years, 11 months, and 13 days.
Shirley was born Sept. 25, 1934, on a farm near Crete, the oldest of two children born to Victor and Emma (Tyser) Ripa. She attended District 34 country school and then high school at Wilber Public Schools, graduating with the class of 1952. Following the death of her grandpa, Charles, Shirley went to live with her grandma, Anna Ripa, in Crete while she finished high school and attended summer courses at Doane College.
She earned a teaching certificate in 1954 and began her career teaching at a few different rural schools, including District 51 south of Highway 41. Shirley enjoyed teaching and loved her students like her own. It was during this time that she met the love of her life, George “Jr.” Kasl at a dance at Tabor Hall. They were united in marriage on June 12, 1956, and they made their home on the Kasl family home place where Jr. had grown up.
Shirley continued to teach for a few more years while helping Jr. on the farm, raising hogs, sheep, chickens, and cattle. She was known at Dorchester Co-op as being one of the best grain haulers/pile backer-uppers around! They also stayed busy volunteering at Tabor Hall, where they often worked dances two-three nights a weekend, and Shirley also helped Jr. with his NK Seed dealership.
Shirley and Jr. always dreamed of a house full of children, but it wasn’t in the cards for them, so they spent many summers hosting their nieces and nephews on the farm. After 15 years of marriage, they were finally blessed with their own little one, when George Kasl, III, or “Georgie” was born. He was the apple of their eye, and they cherished every second with him.
Once little Georgie came along, Shirley took on an active role in his interests and hobbies. She taught Sunday school for many years, volunteered her time as a leader for his Cub Scouts, served as a 4-H co-leader, and once he got into showing cattle, she spent many hours at shows and in the barn. Once Georgie was in high school, Shirley started working outside the home, working at Wilber Grocery & Hardware for several years, and then briefly at a truck stop in Crete, before settling back into her role of full-time farm wife. She spent many hours baby-sitting her granddaughters, and felt very blessed that she was able to spend so much time with them over the years.
Shirley was a 64-year member of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit #264, a longtime member of the Dorchester United Methodist Church, and had just achieved 80 years of membership in WFLA Tabor Lodge #74, receiving her 75-year pin in 2021. She and Jr. were proud to receive the 2022 Friends of 4-H award for their many years of supporting their family and the youth of Saline County.
Shirley was very close to her Grandma Ripa, and it was through spending time with her that she developed her love of gardening. For many years, Shirley tended a large garden, where she grew just about every type of produce you could imagine. When the garden eventually became too much to manage, she continued to grow a few of her favorite fruits and vegetables in containers. She loved fresh produce and was always thrilled when friends and neighbors thought of her and shared their own homegrown goodies for her to enjoy!
Shirley also spent her time growing many different types of flowers throughout the years, and especially looked forward to spring and summer when she could go on outings to choose the flowers she would plant each year. She passed her love of plants and flowers on to her daughter-in-law, and they enjoyed many hours together talking about flowers, looking at flowers, and shopping for flowers. If they were ever trying to decide between two plants, Shirley’s solution was often to get both, and she was very convincing! Gardening brought Shirley great joy, and her love of growing things remained a special part of her life.
The most important thing to Shirley was her family. Not only did she and Jr. support Georgie in all of his activities throughout the years, they rarely missed an event that involved any of their grandkids, and she continued going to activities after Jr. passed away. Whether it be an academic program, sporting event, school concert, dance performance, religious gathering, livestock show, or some other activity the kids were involved in, if she wasn’t in attendance in person, she was almost always watching it online she had the option.
Even while in the hospital during the last couple of weeks before her passing, she wanted to be sure her iPad was set up so she could watch Kendall show livestock at the State Fair, and was ready for junior high and high school Dorchester volleyball games. In the event that a game wasn’t streaming, or if she had technical difficulties, she would make sure someone sent her some videos so she could still experience it, and would keep those videos and watch them over and over, which frequently caused storage issues on her phone!
Speaking of her phone, Shirley got her first smartphone during Covid, and had mastered technology quite well for someone her age. She loved to send texts to her family and friends, and was an avid user of GIFs and emojis. She almost always got in the last word by sending a final text of emojis, which will be greatly missed.
After almost 67 years of marriage, Shirley said goodbye to the love of her life, Jr. Kasl. Although she continued to stay very involved with her family, and was always thinking about the “next thing” to look forward to, there was a void in her life after Jr.’s passing. Shirley found comfort in Jr.’s cat, Blackie, and although Blackie didn’t have much use for Shirley while Jr. was alive, they became special friends over the last few years.
Shirley is survived by her son and daughter in law, George, III and Jen Kasl; granddaughters, Emma Kasl and special friend, Landon Scott, Cassidy and Brandon Bruha, Quinn Kasl and special friend, Mason Stone, and Kendall Kasl; great-granddaughters, Aleah Wendelin and Emerson Scott; great-grandson, Maverick Bruha, all of Dorchester; brother, Kenny Ripa, Wilber; and sister-in-law, Shirley Kasl, Crete; many nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives.
Shirley was preceded in death by her husband, George Kasl, Jr.; her parents, Victor and Emma Ripa; mother and father-in-law, George and Emma Kasl; brothers and sisters-in-law, Evelyn and Elmer Branzovsky, Ed and Rosella Kasl, Helen and Edward Halada, Frank and Evelyn Kasl, Dorothy and Lumir Kotas, Gladys and Warren Burda, Bob and Marva Kasl, Rich and Darlene Kasl; and several nieces and nephews.
The funeral service will be Friday, Sept. 18, at 10:30 a.m. at the Dorchester United Methodist Church and will be livestreamed via https://evt.live/shirley-kasl-service. Visitation will be Thursday, Sept. 17, from 4 - 8 p.m. at Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete.
Arrangements by Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete.
