Shirley Ward was among Tom’s classmates at Greenville High School.

In Tom’s letter of January 10, 1941 to Zoe Foran, he writes:

Bobs ^[1]Bob Blizzard, Tom’s friendtrying to fall in love again this time with Shirley Ward he sort of held back because he thought she was too young but Bill B. and Baker seemed to do O.K., so he has decided to try.

As events later proved, Bob was unsuccessful, as Shirley Ward later married David Eugene Walker Taylor in 1945. They had a son, David Ward Taylor, and were married for 63 years before her husband died in 2009.

Shirley Ann Ward died in 2013.