Shirley McClain, 53, a nurse who became a Chicago police officer, died Wednesday, May 15, of liver disease in Holy Cross Hospital. Mrs. McClain was born in Chicago and grew up in the Pilsen community. She had perfect attendance from elementary school through graduation from St. Anne High School. She graduated from St. Mary of Nazareth Nursing School and passed her registered nurse exam on the first try, said her husband of 32 years, Rocky. “She was always proud of that,” he said. The two met while she was attending to his mother at St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital. “I stood in the doorway,” he recalled. “I said, `Let’s get married.’ She said, `All right. Next week,'” They married in 1970. During her two decades as a nurse, Mrs. McClain was “able to console people when they needed to be consoled” and “when she had to be tough, she was tough,” her husband said. The hospital changed management, and when Mrs. McClain refused to take a pay cut, she was laid off. At age 38, she qualified for training to become a Chicago police officer. Mrs. McClain was on active duty until May 9, when she appeared to slip into a coma and was taken to the hospital, her husband said. Mrs. McClain was preceded in death by her first-born son, David, who died at age 8 of cancer. Besides her husband, she is survived by five children, Kelly Golden, Kimberly Rodriguez and Shannon, Joy and Mark McClain. Services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 6435 S. Kilbourn Ave., Chicago.
