Henry Clay Boulevard, Lexington, Kentucky

Shirley's home for many years, and the place where she died peacefully after a long bout with breast cancer

    Shirley Mason was born in Dodge Center, Minnesota on January 25, 1923.  As a result of horrific childhood abuse, she developed DID, dissociative identity disorder. Often awakening in strange places, and losing time, she consulted a therapist, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur. With Dr. Wilbur's help, she dealt with the issues of her childhood and became an integrated whole in 1965. Her story was told in the best seller, Sybil, by Flora R. Schreiber and then again in 1976 with the release of the movie Sybil starring Sally Field.                                                                                                                                                                  

   According to the book, her sixteen personalities were integrated in 1965. After that, needing money and wanting to continue with what she had been trained to do, she secured a position teaching art at Rio Grande College in rural southern Ohio. It was here that I met her on my first day as a returning student trying to finish my education degree. We became friends almost immediately. I was attempting to work through some personal issues and she sensed that I needed someone outside my immediate family with whom I could talk. I loved the art projects she assigned and began to broaden their scope by combining my art with "words" that complemented each project. She liked that idea and our creative personalities forged a bond that grew stronger over the years.

   Shirley's life had been filled with suffering. Her cancer recurrence was the final blow to a gentle lady who did not deserve the indignities she endured. She chose to forego any treatment and spend her remaining time in her home. She said she had no wish to prolong what she felt was a losing battle, and that God would take care of her as always. I spoke to her for the last time the month before she passed away. During our talk, I sensed she had found an inner peace that had eluded her for so long. I admired her courage then, and continue to miss her presence in my life today.