Shirley S. Inhorn

Shirley Inhorn, the daughter of Frank and Edyth (Rayner) Sherburne, was born on the family farm near Lone Tree, Iowa in May 1926. Along with her younger brother Robert, she went to a one-room schoolhouse and then to Lone Tree High School. She was already fourteen before the Rural Electrification Association brought electricity to the farm and to their community. Music played a big part in Shirley’s early life. She took piano lessons, and then taught herself how to play the marimba. In 1944, after graduating as her high school’s valedictorian, Shirley entered the University of Iowa as a chemistry major and played marimba in the University Symphonic Band. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with High Distinction in 1948. In 1947, Shirley married her high school sweetheart, Robert Green, before he entered the US Navy. In the same year, Shirley became the supervisor of the Clinical Chemistry section of the University of Iowa Hospital Laboratories. Her husband was discharged from the Navy in 1948 with a diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma. He died in 1950. Shirley continued to work at the hospital until 1953.

Shirley came to Madison after being accepted as a graduate student in the Physiological Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin. In January 1954, she met Stanley (Stan) Inhorn, an intern at the UW Hospital. Although they came from completely different backgrounds, a romance developed rapidly. Music brought them together. Stan was a violinist who was particularly interested in the School of Music’s Pro Arte Quartet. Fortunately, their concerts were free, because Stan’s salary as an intern was $25 a month. That season, the Quartet was featuring Bartok quartets. Shirley was not thrilled with this musical selection, but she liked Stan, so she did not complain about their dates. In August that year, Shirley and Stan were married in the new Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society, and they held their reception in the Edgewater Hotel.

In 1954, there was an unusual military doctor draft, in which Stan was conscripted into the Navy and was assigned to be a doctor on an amphibious ship, an APA scheduled to go to Japan. Shirley decided to stay in Madison to continue her graduate studies while Stan traveled to San Diego, home of the amphibious fleet where his ship engaged in landing exercises. In February 1955, the Navy decided to mothball the APA, so Stan was assigned to a squadron that would be remaining in San Diego. At that point, Shirley decided to suspend her graduate studies and join Stan in San Diego. Stan completed his tour of duty in October 1956, and the couple drove back to Madison along with their son, Lowell, born in the Balboa Naval Hospital. 

Shirley’s savings enabled them to buy a small house in the new Westmoreland area. By 1960, two more children, Marcia and Roger, had joined the family. Shirley, like so many women of her generation, decided to be a full-time mother and homemaker rather than returning to graduate school. Her primary activities focused on supporting her children, academically and socially, in what she described as “intensive parenting.” All three children took piano lessons and later they chose to play string instruments in the junior high orchestra at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. Lowell chose the violin, Marcia the cello, and Roger agreed to play the viola, responding to friendly persuasion, so that with their father, they could play quartet music. Shirley was very important in the family’s musical life. Not only did she transport them to their multiple music lessons, but as a fine pianist herself, she became the accompanist for their recitals, state music competitions, and various auditions. In high school, all three Inhorn children joined the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, an organization for which Shirley would become an important volunteer.

Indeed, Shirley devoted many hours of her life volunteering for a variety of organizations. These included the American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters of Dane County, the University League, Madison Opera Guild, and the Madison Civics Club, which she chaired from 1988 to 1989. For the Wisconsin Alumni Association, she chaired the Spring Day on Campus in 1986. Following the family’s move to Parkwood Hills, Shirley served on the Parkwood Hills Community Association and on the Memorial High School PTA. Once the children were off to college, Shirley became membership chairman for three of these organizations, using the children’s bedrooms to keep the membership materials separate.

Although Shirley’s organizational skills and deep devotion to a variety of non-profits enabled her to remain active in many organizations, there were three that consumed the majority of her time and efforts—the First Unitarian Society (FUS), the Madison Symphony Orchestra League (MSOL), and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), for which she served as President of the Board and later a Life Trustee. FUS was a spiritual home for the family, so Shirley’s early involvement included teaching Sunday School, joining the Couples’ Club, and then the UU Women’s Alliance, for which she served as President. The Frank Lloyd Wright Meeting House revolutionized the building of churches in the United States and around the world. The building later became a National Historic Landmark, so visitors were afforded tours during the warmer months. Shirley became so knowledgeable about Mr. Wright’s career and contributions to modern architecture that she led the tour guide program for a decade, and she was a long-standing member of the FUS Preservation Ministry Team. Whenever Shirley and Stan went on a vacation or business trip, they researched the area to determine if there were FLW buildings in the area. In 2012, Shirley received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Service to the FUS Friends of the Meeting House.

Shirley was also a talented writer, who served as editor of many publications in both the medical and musical fields. She was Editor of Counterpoint, the MSOL Newsletter, and as a fine cook and baker, she helped to publish two MSOL recipe books called “Compositions for Cooking, Opus 1 and Opus 2.” Shirley also served as a freelance medical writer and copyeditor for the journal Modern Medicine, for which she received two awards for authorship of medical abstracts. 

Throughout her life, Shirley received many awards and recognitions. In 1989, she was honored as “Know Your Madisonian” in the Wisconsin State Journal. In 1991, she received recognition from the Voluntary Action Center of WIBA for her service to WYSO, and the same award in 1995 for her tireless volunteering at Four Winds Manor, Verona, where her mother, Edyth Sherburne, spent her final years. In 1996, she received the Rotary Senior Service Award, and in 2012, Shirley and Stan together received the first John DeMain Award in recognition of their longstanding and unwavering support of MSOL and its Concerts on the Green. In addition, the Inhorns supported and sponsored the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Salon Piano Series, the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Four Seasons Theatre, the Bach Musicians, the Madison Opera, the Overture Center, The Savoyards, and the Wisconsin Foundation for the School of Music. They also helped to provide a permanent faculty position in the UW School of Music for the Pro Arte Quartet, the longest-surviving US string quartet, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012.

Shirley and Stan were enthusiastic travelers and introduced their children to nearly all 50 states and many national parks. In their later years, Shirley and Stan traveled to many countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Although none of the Inhorn children remained in Madison after receiving their undergraduate degrees at UW, Shirley and Stan enjoyed visiting them and were very proud of their achievements. Lowell, who graduated with an MD from Johns Hopkins University, is an oncologist-hematologist in Roanoke, VA, and an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Marcia, who received MPH and PhD degrees from the University of California-Berkeley, is a professor of anthropology and international affairs at Yale University in New Haven, CT, where she has directed the Council on Middle East Studies. Roger, who received MD-PhD degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, is an oncologist-hematologist in mid coast Maine and an assistant professor at Tufts University College of Medicine.  

Upon moving with Stan to Oakwood Village in 2011, Shirley served as Editorial Board Member for Oak Chips, the community’s newsletter. She also chaired Oakwood’s Health Committee, and she volunteered weekly as a pianist at Oakwood’s Covenant memory care unit, where she later became a resident in 2023.

Shirley is survived by her husband Stan (Madison, WI); her son Lowell (Cynthia Petzold) of Roanoke, VA; her daughter Marcia (Kirk Hooks) of New Haven, CT; her son Roger (Victoria Masakowski) of Lincolnville, ME; and eight grandchildren, including Meredith Penthorn of Madison, WI; Nicholas Penthorn (Wendy Herbst) of Redwood City, CA; Carl Hooks of Sydney, Australia; Justine Hooks of Philadelphia, PA; Emma Inhorn of Atlanta, GA; Joseph Inhorn of Washington, DC; Anthony Inhorn of Washington, DC; and Vincent Inhorn of Pittsburgh, PA. She has three surviving nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her brother, Robert Sherburne of Sumner, Iowa.

A memorial service will be held at a later date at the First Unitarian Society. Donations may be given to any of the non-profits to which Shirley devoted many hours: FUS (fusmadison.org), MSOL (madisonsymphony.org), or WYSO (wysomusic.org). Messages can be sent to Lowell Inhorn at LFinhorn@cox.net.

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