Fern Maxcine Shetterly

June 27, 2026

 Fern Maxcine (Campbell) Shetterly was born August 15, 1932,in Holly, Colorado to Roy and Augusta Campbell.  She died in Colorado Springs, Colorado on June 23, 2026.

 

Maxcine was born into a hardworking farm family during the height of the Great Depression.  She was raised north of Holly, Colorado near where her grandparents Jake and Katie Berndt(Volga Germans who had immigrated from Russia) had homesteaded in 1910.  In 1948, Maxcine married Donald Lewis.  Don and Maxcine farmed north of Syracuse, Kansas. In 1956 son Gary was born, followed by Andrew in 1959.  Their farmgrew to include milk cows, hogs and chickens. Ultimately their egg operation, called McDonald’s Egg Ranch, had 1,000 laying hens.  It was a family affair with Don, Maxcine and the boys gathering, washing, grading and packaging over 700 eggs a day.  They sold eggs all over southwestern Kansas to grocery stores, restaurants and hospitals.  Don died from cancer in 1972.

 

Maxcine was a wonderful cook.  In addition to cooking at several restaurants in Syracuse over the years, at one time she and Don managed the 66 Cafe and then the Capri Restaurant.  Maxcine’s reputation as a cook was well known.  At the Capri,the level of dinner business often depended upon whether Maxcine was cooking that night.  Managing the restaurants was a family operation.  Don was at the cash register, Maxcine was running the kitchen, and once they were old enough, Gary and Andy were often found peeling potatoes or washing dishes.  In 1971 Maxcine took her skills to the Hamilton County Hospital.  She started as a cook, and through hard work rose to the position of Food Service Supervisor, responsible for every meal prepared at the hospital.

 

In the difficult years after Don’s passing, Maxcine raised their two boys on her own.  Her laser focused mission was to make sure that Gary and Andy received a high school diploma and a college education.  Both did.  Looking back on those years, Maxcine would say, “We did pretty good, didn’t we?  Especially with how little we had to work with.”   

 

Even though Maxcine was barely 5’3” tall and never weighed much more than 100 lbs., she was fearless and never shied away from a challenge.   After leaving the hospital in 1977 she opened her own business, a flower shop called Maxcine’s Flowers.  Even though she had no training as a florist, was a single mother with one son in college and another in high school, she decided it was time for a change.  Maxcine bought an existing flower shop in Syracuse, and with the help of her family moved her and Don’s first house in from the country, remodeled it, and taught herself how to be a florist.  Running a successful floral business until 1982, Maxcine uncovered a talent she didn’t even know she had.  

 

In September of 1982 Maxcine married Harold Shetterly.  They lived west of Kendall, Kansas where they farmed and raised cattle.  Maxcine was an integral part of the operation and worked side by side with Harold regardless of whether the job was driving the tractor or pulling a calf.  She often judged a “good day” based upon the amount of work one got done.  35 years on the farm with Harold gave her plenty of opportunity for “good days”.  Maxcine was a remarkable woman.  365 days a year, she worked as hard as any man.  When the farm work was done,she took care of the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, and the grocery shopping, kept up the farm books, and paid the bills. In her spare time, she crocheted, cross-stitched, and spent time on the phone keeping the extended family connected.  Maxcine always just called herself Harold’s “hired man”, but when she broke her hip in June of 2017 and was unable to continue the work required of living on the farm, it quickly became apparent how lost both he and the operation were without her.  Harold died in December of 2017.  

 

Maxcine spent two years living in Holly before further health complications, including a diagnosis of dementia, forced her to move to a Colorado Springs assisted living facility in 2019.  In 2022 as her dementia worsened, Maxcine moved to their memory care unit where she resided until her passing.  Although dementia robbed Maxcine of many things, it did not take away her good nature, kindness, and sense of humor.  When asked how she was doing, she liked to say she was, “still kicking, just not very high!”  To the end, Maxcine was unfailingly pleasant, quick with a smile, and showed kindness to her caregivers.  She often told them she was, “sorry I’m so much trouble”.  They all loved Maxcine.  Every conversation with a caregiver or hospice nurse always started with “your dear mother is just the sweetest person”.        

 

Family was everything to Maxcine.  She hosted the extended family Thanksgiving celebration for many years.  First at the farm, then for several years at the Sunflower Square in Syracuse while both of her parents lived in the adjacent nursing home.  (One year she hosted over 40 people, with almost all the cooking done by Maxcine and brought in from the farm.)  The feast then moved to her parents’ house in Holly, which she bought in 1998 after their passing.  She jokingly called it her “Colorado Getaway”.  For over 20 years she spent most Sundays there taking care of the house and yard.  Even though she was there only one day a week, her yard was always one of the nicest on the block.  Maintaining the Holly House and its yard brought her great joy.  

 

Maxcine was preceded in death by her parents Roy and AugustaCampbell, siblings Wesley Campbell, Jenny Bland and Elma Willour, husbands Don Lewis and Harold Shetterly, and son Gary Lewis. Maxcine is survived by her son Andrew Lewis(Sharon) of Colorado Springs, Colorado and granddaughters Sara Marsden (Owen) of Prairie Village, Kansas and Anne Kindel (Simon) of Greenwich, Connecticut as well as great grandchildren Graham James and Ellen Maxine Marsden, and soon to arrive, (due in early August) a third (Kindel) great grandchild.  

 

Per her request, Maxcine has been cremated.  She will be inurned in the family plot in Syracuse, Kansas.  A memorial service will be held in the fall.