Shirley Alice was born on November 2, 1925 in Maxbass, ND to parents Alvin and Margaret (Hall) Lambert. She attended Brander School through the 10th grade and graduated with the class of 1944 in Maxbass, ND. She enjoyed playing guard for the Maxbass basketball team. Shirley met her husband, Wesley “Guy” Urbatsch while he was working for her family in Maxbass. They were married on November 25, 1944 in Wolf Point, MT. They made their first home in Bainville, MT. They lived in various places before making their home for the next 61 years in Williston, ND. Shirley and Wes loved to fish together, play cards with friends and family, and to spend time with their grandchildren.
Shirley was an amazing mother. She loved us beyond words and we all knew it. She never asked for anything or wanted much. She was an amazing cook and her family loved her fresh baked buns, chicken noodle soup, and her pies. Our house was tiny, our family was large but there was always room for everyone. She watched her brothers kids when they where babies until they went to school and she loved every minute of it; Paige, Steven and Jay where more like her grandchildren then her niece and nephews. She loved everyone and became the adopted grandmother to many. She was always thrilled when someone would bring over a baby for her to hold. She had a little neighbor girl, Lola, who she loved and played with several times a week. Lola’s family became another family to Shirley. It was always hard when the neighborhood changed but she always made friends with the new neighbors while keeping in touch with the old.
Shirley made friends with everyone. She had many lifelong friends. She was so blessed to have some of the very best neighbors, especially in the later years as she needed just a little extra help. Jim and Peg Haga who checked on her, shoveled for her, and where great friends to her. They played practical jokes on each other and she always was trying to think of the next thing to do to get them. Shirley opened her home on many occasions to people who were attending college and who needed a place to stay for a bit. She may have been small but her heart was absolutely huge.
On December 16, 2015, Shirley moved from her home of 61 years in Williston, ND to the Crestwood Inn in Sidney, MT to be closer to her daughters. She needed a little extra help; it was a hard decision but it turned into a wonderful adventure for her. As always Shirley made some amazing friends while living at the Crestwood Inn. They would walk the halls for exercise, play games, and took turns having suppers and pie, and attend church Thursday evenings. Her spunky self even dyed her hair blue with several of them. Of course she was the only one that dyed all of her hair blue! Shirley absolutely never met a stranger. Everyone was a friend she had not met yet.
Shirley loved animals. She had a daily routine of feeding the squirrels and the birds twice a day. Each fall she would say she wasn’t feeding them in the winter, but she did. She also gave the neighbors dog’s two treats twice a day as well.
She loved to play pinochle and whist with family and friends and she was good at it. When she slowed down a bit she would watch game shows; Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Family Feud were a few of her favorites. Since she had five boys, she grew to love sports. She loved watching the Vikings until the Bison became her favorite team, she was a Minnesota Twins fan, and she enjoyed watching golf. But the Bison ruled!
Shirley passed away peacefully on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at the Sidney Health Center.
Shirley is survived by her seven children, Michael (Judy) Urbatsch, Gillette, WY, Roger Urbatsch, Sidney, MT, Dennis (Lee Ann) Urbatsch, Buckeye, AZ, Dean (Jane) Urbatsch, Williston, ND, Bruce (Starr) Urbatsch, Phoenix, AZ, Diane (Raymond) Volk, Sidney, MT, Karen (Terry) Sivertson, Sidney, MT; 18 grandchildren, and 19 great grandchildren; sisters, Peggy Bahn, Bismarck, ND, Marlene (Allen) Spencer, Ojai, CA, Linda Brown, Fargo, ND; her brother Alvin “Butch” (Pam) Lambert, Williston, ND;
Shirley was preceded in death by her husband, Wesley; her parents; and her sister Faye Haugen.

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