Shirley Ammann Eppard
Berlin
Shirley Ammann Eppard died peacefully on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at The Macky & Pam Stansell House Coastal Hospice in Ocean Pines. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, friend, sorority sister, neighbor, and artist.
Shirley was born on May 10, 1934, in Camp Springs, Maryland, to Robert Warren and Brittania Park Ammann. The area was largely agricultural when she was growing up. Shirley graduated from Surrattsville High School in Clinton in 1952. She was a fierce competitor, active on the women’s sports teams, and attended their high school reunions for decades. She was an active member of the Phi Pi Epsilon Sorority and engaged in charitable activities, organized memorable soup dinners, and enjoyed close relationships with her sorority sisters for decades.
After high school, Shirley worked as a bank teller at the National Capital Bank in Washington, D.C. She met the love of her life Philip Fenton Eppard and they married on November 30, 1957. Together they built a life in Camp Springs, raising six daughters – Lynn Eppard (Kenneth Young), Pamela Howard (Jim Howard), Robin Tomaselli (Kenneth Tomaselli), Michele Eppard, Nancy Leah Olsen (Eric Olsen), and Diana Nicole Eppard. The family kept growing, and there are now 16 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter. Phil and Shirley were married for more than 66 years and eventually moved to a waterfront dream home in Ocean Pines.
When their children were young, Shirley went to work for her father’s F&A Bricklaying Contractors business. Many homes in Auth Village, as well as commercial development around the Branch Avenue Metro Station, stand as a testament to those efforts. During that time, she also cultivated her love of good food and gin rummy at the office compound on Auth Rd.
Shirley was a talented artist. She nurtured her own and her children’s creativity in all kinds of art classes and media. She created beautiful works in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and ceramic, and many are proudly displayed in homes of family and friends across the country. Her interior decorating talents were evident in her beautiful homes and on several commercial projects. In her later years, she enjoyed classes and friendships in the Southern Maryland Decorative Painters league and the Art League of Ocean City.
Shirley supported the Silver Hill Lions Club in many ways, too. Phil was an active member and leader for nearly 50 years, and they both contributed greatly to the club’s biggest fundraiser, the annual Demolition Derby. Shirley’s people skills were well known and profitable at the ticket window.
Faith was also important to Shirley. She was an active member and eventually became a trustee of the Bells United Methodist Church in Camp Springs, one of the oldest churches in that local area of Prince George’s County. She also supported her husband’s parish, St. Philip the Apostle Church and School in Camp Springs, where she contributed generously to fundraisers, especially her popular spaghetti dinners. She recently converted to Catholicism at St. John Neumann Church in Berlin in 2023.
Shirley will be dearly missed by her large family, countless friends, fellow artists, and neighbors. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Robert J. Ammann; her nephew, Robert V. Ammann; and her grandson, Saleem Abdullah Wakil.
A funeral mass will be held at St. John Neumann Catholic Church on Monday, May 4, at 11 am. The church is located at 11211 Beauchamp Road, Berlin, Md. 21811. An interment will be held immediately following the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations by check to Coastal Hospice, P.O. Box 1733, Salisbury, MD 21802, or online to http://www.coastalhospice.org/donate.