Shirley P. Barnum

The Rev. Shirley May (Pollock) Barnum, age 95, died November 21, 2025, at Colby, Kansas where she had lived since 2012.

She was born Feb. 21, 1930, in Tulsa, Okla, the daughter of Elmer William and Edna Irene (Woodmansee) Pollock. She had one older sister, Polly Jean. Shirley was baptized in Tulsa’s First Methodist Church on Palm Sunday in 1933, and confessed her faith in Jesus Christ and became a member there when she was 10.

Following graduation from Central High School in Tulsa in 1947, Shirley attended Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Mo., then graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1951.

She was married to J Gilbert Davis II, a petroleum engineer, in Tulsa, in 1949. They lived in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. Three sons were born, Grant Michael, Evan Patrick and Casey Scott. The Davises separated in 1963.

In 1964, Shirley and the boys moved to Denver, Colo. where she met and married the Rev. John C. Barnum, on Dec. 30, 1965. John legally adopted the children a short time later. The Barnums lived in Ft. Collins, Colo. for three years while John was Mobile Minister for five mountain churches. Moving to Boulder, Colo. they served Valmont Presbyterian Church, then to Colby, Kan. where John served Colby Presbyterian Church and Shirley was Commissioned Lay Preacher for nearby Oakley Presbyterian Church.

In 1983, John was called to be the Pastor and Shirley the Supply Preacher for Presbyterian churches at Harper, Corwin, and Hopewell, near Anthony.

On May 1, 1988, Shirley Barnum graduated cum laude from Phillips Theological Seminary, Enid, Okla. (now in Tulsa), and was ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament by the Presbytery of Southern Kansas. She became Co-Pastor with her husband, of the Harper County Presbyterian Parish. A year later they also became Co-Pastors at Viola, Kan. John retired in 1997, and in 1998 they moved to Viola, where Shirley became the solo Pastor of the Viola United Presbyterian Church. In 2005, a new church building was constructed on the south edge of town.

Over the years Shirley had many what she called “enjoyments.” She had a life-long love of reading and libraries, and did volunteer work in several. Cats, especially “Tuck,” were in her childhood. Early she enjoyed collecting salt and pepper shakers, doing needlepoint and writing letters. Later she collected thimbles, bells, small rocks, mugs, windmill pictures, and pictures of kittens and cats. She was a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, receiving her 50-year pin in 2018.

In 2012 they moved to Colby to be nearer two of their sons, residing at Fairview Estates Retirement Community. Later John moved to Prairie Senior Living, where he passed away in 2022. Shirley continued living at Fairview until she moved to Colby Health and Rehab in 2024.

Shirley Barnum was preceded in death by her parents, husband John, son Scott and by her only sister, Polly Holway.

She is survived by two sons, Dr. Grant M. Barnum (Carol), Osage Beach, Mo., Evan P. Barnum (Regena), Colby, Kan; and Janice, wife of C. Scott Barnum, Colby, Kan.; by seven grandchildren: Grant and Carol’s children Cheryl Ellison, Grant, Jr., and Julie Irene Barnum; Evan and Regena’s sons Christopher and David; and Scott and Jan’s children Amanda May Barnum and Matthew; five great-grandchildren, a nephew, Rev. William P. Holway, and two nieces, Marcia Schaefer and Shirley Adams.

Memorials may go to First Presbyterian Church, Colby, Kan., or to Church World Service/CROP, PO Box 968, Elkhart, Indiana, or to the Presbytery of Southern Kansas, Wichita 67203, marked for use with small churches.

A Celebration of Life and Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, January 10, 2026, at the First Presbyterian Church in Colby, Kan, with inurnment, along with John, following at Beulah Cemetery in Colby.