Shirley Sue Whitt-Scribner

Shirley Sue Whitt, 90, stepped into the presence of her Savior in the early morning hours of February 7, 2026. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, minister’s wife, prison minister’s wife, secretary to her husband, Wes, house mother of ex-offenders, a speaker and teacher at ladies’ classes, and the co-founder of Christ’s Prison Fellowship, with the love of her life, Wes Whitt. Most importantly, Shirley was a follower of Christ.  Funeral service will be Thursday, February 12, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. in the chapel of Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut Street.  Visitation with the family will start at 1:00 p.m., on Thursday.  Burial will be on Friday, February 13, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. at Moore Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Texas.

Shirley was born August 8, 1935, in Dunmor, Kentucky, to Thomas Elgan Tunstill of Paradise, Kentucky and Doxie May Audas of Dunmor, Kentucky. Shirley grew up in Dayton, Ohio and graduated from Kaiser High School in 1953. She met Wesley Dee Whitt in 1953 at a city-wide church function and married him on August 20, 1954.

During their early years of marriage, Shirley worked as a secretary at Globe Industries in Dayton while Wes managed an Elder-Beerman department store. During this time, they welcomed their first-born child, Cynthia Sue Whitt on May 4, 1955. Five years later they welcomed Wesley Todd Whitt on April 4, 1960.

In 1966, Wes and Shirley left Dayton for Lubbock, Texas where Wes attended the Sunset School of Preaching. While Shirley was not impressed by the beauty of the Lubbock area, she raised the children, typed all of Wes’ notes from classes on a manual typewriter, and figured out how to clothe, feed and house the family on very little monthly support.

After Wes graduated from Sunset, Shirley and family followed him to preaching posts in Dayton, OH, Centerville, OH, Pontiac, MI and Irving, TX. While preaching at the church in Irving, Wes and Shirley began working with inmates in the Dallas County Jail in 1975, the early days of Christ’s Prison Fellowship. As the men in the jail were sent on to the Texas Department of Corrections, the pair visited them, wrote them, and sent Bible correspondence courses, to better equip the new Christians that had first come to know Christ in the Dallas County Jail. Soon Wes and Shirley went into Prison Ministry full-time and moved to Grand Prairie, TX where they served at the Turnpike church of Christ. During their work, 19 men stayed with them in their home, and over 3,000 were baptized into Christ, including Joe Almanza, here today, whom they loved as a son. Soon after the sudden and untimely death of Wes, on April 24, 1998, Shirley retired from her role at Christ’ s Prison Fellowship and moved to Abilene. She attended Hillcrest church of Christ and enjoyed living near her daughter Cindy and her family, and her in-laws, Harry and Sarah Whitt and Shannon Conley.

On February 19, 2000, after rekindling a friendship from Globe Industries from the 1950’s, Shirley married Jack Scribner. Jack was a World War II veteran. He loved and cared for Shirley until his death on April 14, 2005.

Shirley enjoyed spending time with family, cooking, hosting holidays at her home, studying the Bible and working in the Kingdom of God.

Shirley is preceded in death by her husband of 43 years, Wes Whitt; her husband of 5 years, Jack Scribner and her grandson Curtis Whitt. She is survived by her daughter, Cindy Byers and her husband, Glenn Byers of Abilene, TX, her son Todd Whitt and his wife, Nita Whitt of Divide, CO. She has four grandchildren; Alexis Rogers and her husband, Ashley of Roanoke, TX; Estee Hawkins and her husband, Taris of Abilene, TX; Rachel Perkins and her husband, Michael of Boise, ID and Kayla Whitt of Ft. Worth, TX. She also has five great grandchildren: Kendall, Mason, Tucker, Genevieve and Waverly.

The family expresses their appreciation to Brenda and her caring staff at Wisteria Memory Care, where Shirley spent the last few years of her life.