Obituaries : Shirley Ann Kafides; Longtime Schoolteacher

Shirley Ann Kafides, a longtime Oxnard schoolteacher, died Wednesday after a brief illness. She was 62.

Kafides, who was born Oct. 26, 1933, in Canton, Ohio, received her bachelor’s degree in science from Kent State University in 1957 and began her teaching career in the Kent School District. She also taught for nine years in the Alhambra School District in Phoenix while she pursued graduate studies at Arizona State University.

In 1968, she moved to Oxnard and taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades during her career. She taught at Oxnard’s Sierra Linda School for 23 years, where she was honored in May 1985 as the school’s first Educator of the Year.

“Shirley believed that children are this nation’s greatest resource and she was determined to make them all mathematicians,” said Marianne Soles, Sierra Linda School’s office manager. “Shirley’s idea of a vacation was learning more and teaching teachers and parents to help children.”

Committed to education, Kafides was a mentor teacher and leader in the Tri-Counties Math and Science Projects program from 1990 to 1996. She also pursued her own studies at Cal Lutheran University, Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara.

She is survived by her son, John T. Kafides of Fort Irwin; her daughter, Linda Cross of Oxnard, and six grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. today at the James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Oxnard. Burial will follow in Ivy Lawn Cemetery, Ventura.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Assn. in Camarillo.