during hymns or in the ….

during hymns or in the choir loft.”

Gil Moore, who pastored Redeemer Lutheran for 16 years and still lives in LW, remembered Mrs. Reimers well. “She was a very faithful member during my entire time as pastor,” he said.

Current Redeemer Lutheran Pastor Lisa Rotchford called her a “cornerstone” of the church and its missions.

Shirley Reimers was born March 18,1923, in Los Angeles. She and her sister Viola Colleen were raised by their grandmother Eva Viola when their mother Gladys Isabelle separated from their father John Calvin.

She taught fifth grade for more than 20 years for the Los Angeles School District in the town of Cudahy.

“It was demanding work,” Peter said. “She was very satisfied having made a difference in the children’s lives.”

In 1949, she married Walter William Reimers. They divorced in 1974 and neither remarried. The couple had three sons.

She made all the newspapers when, at 93, she got lost on the way to the Long Beach Airport and ended up in Mexico. Peter alerted Seal Beach police that she had not picked him up on March 15, 2016.

It turned out that she was more than two hours away by the side of a busy road in Tijuana. A good Samaritan found her next to her crashed Buick near the U.S. border fence.

Maya Martin, a 34-year-old housewife, brought Mrs. Reimers to her house in Tijuana. From there, they called her distraught son.

But pinpointing her exact location proved problematic, as the Martin’s house had neither a street address nor a land telephone line.

Martin was asked to go to the Seal Beach Police Facebook page, and do a “pin drop.”

With that information, the U.S. Marshals Service helped contact Tijuana police, who went to the residence and took Mrs. Reimers to the San Ysidro border crossing.

At the border, with help from San Diego police and the California Highway Patrol, she was delivered to Seal Beach police, who drove her home to safety.

Mrs. Reimers, who attributed her confusion to a medical condition, was shaken by the experience but grateful to have received the kindness of many strangers.

It could have been divine payback for her selfless life, always poured out to help others. A deeply religious woman, she accepted all. Faith mattered to her.

“Shirley was a loyal friend to many people across a wide spectrum of humanity,” Peter said. “Her underlying drive was related to a phrase she added to the prayer before meals at the family table: ‘and make us always mindful of the needs of others.’” She lived in LW for 46 years and loved it.

In a 2012 OC Register story on LW’s 50th anniversary celebration, Mrs. Reimers was quoted as saying that LW was “the best place that mature adults could be living. You have security. You have recreation. You have privacy, if you want it. You have everything you really need.”

“Her mission was to keep LW safe and all its services affordable,” said Harbir Narang, who was the GRF administrator from 1986 until his retirement in 2005.

He vividly remembers Mrs. Reimers because she was everywhere: “I admired her courage, her ability to serve, her tenacity. She asked the tough questions,” he said. “She treated people with respect and understanding. She was always there for Leisure World. She was fantastic.”

Peter agrees: “If she differed in opinion, she either held her tongue, prayed or lived another of her phrases, ‘oh well.’

“For the most part, she accepted people as they are. She once told me how boring the world would be if everybody thought and behaved like I did. Variety permits us to see differently, should we choose.”

“Many residents express pleasure when they tell me stories about my mom,” Peter added. “A great one is, ‘She was always happy’.”

Shirley traveled to Hawaii for visits with her sons, Alaska and Italy (among others) with her good friend Bonnet Winter, who she met at LW, and to Austria with her grandson.

She was preceded in death by her ex-husband, Walter William Reimers (1987) and sister Viola Colleen (1989).

She is survived by three sons, Peter W. (Wendy), Walter W. Jr. (Pamela) and Paul T. (Melissa), 11 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

A Memorial Moment will be incorporated into the regular service at Redeemer Lutheran Church on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 10:30 a.m.

The church is located at 13564 St. Andrews Drive in Seal Beach.

Ample parking is available across the street.

There will be a fellowship time after the service, either indoors or out (weather permitting). Cake will be available.

In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Reimers would love to have laughter, kindness, acts of charity and the courage of conviction as goals for daily life, Peter said.

Masks are recommended. Doing so is a choice to protect others from illness.

—Ruth Osborn, editor