Shirley Rief Bryson, 78, died Friday, November 15, 2013. Born in Madison, Nebraska in 1935, she had been a Hampton resident since 1985 and was a member of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. Shirley and Ray spent more than 20 years traveling the world with the US Air Force. They raised their family in Taiwan, South America, and all over the United States. She grew up as a farm girl in Nebraska and married a handsome G.I. in Portland, Oregon. Shirley learned to manage a household staff in Taipei to support her husband's entertainment responsibilities during the Vietnam Conflict and graciously returned to Charleston S.C. to a 2 bedroom trailer, with 4 children, for 9 months in temporary housing. She enrolled her daughters in 9 schools in 17 years. Shirley and Ray retired in 1985 and resumed their love for travel. She spent seven months a year exploring North America in the RV with her husband, taking picturing and documenting every deer she spotted during the day.

Shirley is survived by her husband H. Ray Bryson of 59 years. She had four daughters in five years, Cheryl Bryson Lockwood, Gail Bryson Kilker, Linda Bryson Long, and Janice Bryson Fuller; a sister, Audrey Sullivan; a brother, Dwight Rief; six grandchildren, Jason Pell, Timothy Gurley, Amy Chanthaboury, Adam Bowers, Jessica Lockwood and Katherine Lockwood; and six great-grandchildren, Emily and Bethany Gurley, Taylor and Emma Pell, Coltan and Brody Chanthaboury.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 AM, Thursday, November 21, 2013 at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 2114 Bay Avenue, Hampton, VA 23661.

Arrangements by R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home 245 S. Armistead Ave, Hampton, VA 23669.

Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 5216, Glen Allen, VA 23058.