The Wallace family has lost our matriarch. Shirley Frances Wallace, age 92, passed quietly at home in hospice on February 6, 2026, following a long illness. A Lompoc resident since New Year’s Eve 1965, Shirley is survived by her youngest son, Barry “Bear” Wallace, her devoted caregiver for the past eleven years; her daughter, Victoria Wallace Schlicht; her sons, Michael Wallace and Scott Wallace; her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Wallace; her grandchildren, Matthew and Lily Schlicht, and Brittany, Nicholas, and Tanner Wallace; her brothers, Jim and Joel Dubray; and her nephews, Michael and Jacob Dubray. Shirley, née Shirley Frances Dubray, daughter of Victor Michael Dubray and Charlotte “Lottie” Frances Dubray, was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on March 1, 1933. She graduated from North Central High School in Spokane, Washington, where she was a proud member of the Red Feathers glee and service club, participated in theatre and music productions, and nurtured her lifelong interest in the fine arts. As a youth, she was an accomplished classical pianist. As a young woman, she trained horses professionally. She attended college in Washington State and Duluth, Minnesota, majoring in English Literature with a minor in Art History. Shirley also enjoyed an early singing career and recorded a record prior to her marriage to Airman Gene Lee Wallace in 1957. The couple made homes in Idaho, Texas, Nebraska, and finally Lompoc, California. Their marriage produced four children. Shirley parented alone more often than not due to Gene’s many deployments, and in 1972 she became a single mother and sole support of her family when he retired to Bangkok, Thailand. In support of her young family, Shirley worked multiple jobs and side ventures, including painting Christmas windows late into the night for local businesses, hand-coloring studio portraits, serving as a union recruiter, working in cocktail service at the Elks Lodge, and eventually securing a career position as a draftswoman at ITT FEC—a job that provided a permanent home and lasting stability for her family. A largely self-taught palette knife painter, Shirley became a respected artist and teacher in the Lompoc community. After a 17-year career at ITT/FEC, she left around 1986 to focus more fully on her art and teaching. She continued with Adult Education and, in 1988, joined Allan Hancock College’s Fine Arts Department as an adjunct instructor, teaching up to seven classes per semester until approximately 2012. Shirley joined the Lompoc Valley Art Association near its formation in the mid-1960s and remained a lifetime member, serving in many roles and participating in countless art shows throughout Lompoc and Santa Barbara County. She was also a member of the Los Padres Artist Guild and the Artist Guild of Santa Ynez. She participated annually in the Ryan Park art festival during the Lompoc Flower Festival. Shirley received numerous awards for her work, including second place in the landscape category in an international competition sponsored by Artist Magazine, competing among 30,000 entries. At the “Best of the Best” annual show at Grossman Gallery, she won every possible award before later curating the show for eight years. She represented the Lompoc–Santa Maria area as a supervisor on the Santa Barbara Arts Commission and wrote the monthly “Walk Through Cypress Gallery” column for the Lompoc Record. As her reputation grew, she juried numerous exhibitions throughout the region. Her work has been exhibited in multiple galleries across California and is held in collections throughout the world. During her many years in Lompoc, Shirley was active in community life. She assisted local artist Darrell Brandon in helping realize the vision of a multipurpose room in the public library that also serves as a permanent art display space. Shirley also gave her time as a leader for her daughter’s Blue Bird and Camp Fire Girls groups and participated in the Lompoc Mural Society’s mural projects, with at least one surviving mural still present. She completed numerous commissioned murals and interior projects for local businesses. In addition to her visual arts work, she was a member of the Lompoc Civic Theatre, participating both on stage and in set design. Shirley was known for her brilliant smile, great laugh, colorful and expressive wardrobe, humor, playfulness, and larger-than-life personality. She was a vibrant, hardworking woman who loved life and was a trailblazer as a single mother in the 1970s. She reinvented herself several times over the course of her long life. She pursued her passions with determination and ultimately supported herself through her art and teaching. She was feisty and always up for a challenge, traveling solo to Europe and Egypt. As a mother, she was loving and fiercely supportive of her children’s interests and aspirations. Her family and community will miss her dearly. A memorial will be held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on April 18, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. with a light reception to follow. Shirley loved color, so please feel free to wear your favorite colors. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, the Lompoc Valley Art Association, or her favorite nonprofit, VIVA (Volunteers for Inter-Valley Animals).