Margaret "Shirley" Minder Valan, of Lakewood, N.J., died peacefully

Tuesday, April 22, 2003, in her home.

Born: In Hanford, Calif., the daughter of Margaret Stark Cole and the late Harold Cole.

Personal: As a young child, she moved with her family to Bensalem, Pa., and was a longtime resident of Milford with her husband, Donald C. Minder, who died in 1992.

She graduated from Bensalem High School in Bensalem and the Frankford School of Nursing in Philadelphia. Shirley worked as a nurse at Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg, accepted private duty nursing assignments and served for many summers as the Riegel Ridge youth camp nurse. She continued in her field as an industrial nurse until retiring from Lipton Tea Inc., in Flemington.

She loved fishing, gardening, traveling and playing golf.

Memberships: She was a member of the First United Church of Christ in Milford.

Survivors: her husband, Stephen Valan; her mother; a brother, Russell Cole; a sister, Doris Myers; three daughters, Janelle Capples of O'Fallon, Ill., Michelle Ward of Brookline, N.H., and Maureen Landes of Line Lexington, Pa.; and six grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. Saturday, May 3, in the church. Burial will follow immediately in Milford Union Cemetery in Milford. The W.E. Johnson Funeral Home, 24 Church Road, Holland Township, is in charge of arrangements.

Memorials: Holy Redeemer Visiting Nurse Agency, 1801 N. Route 9, Swainton, NJ 08210.