LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville community gave local icon Shirley Mae Beard her flowers as she lied in repose at the Kentucky Derby Museum Friday evening.
Beard, owner and face of Shirley Mae's Café on South Clay Street, died Saturday, Jan. 11 at the age of 84.
She spent her 84 years on this planet caring for everyone she ever met.
For nearly 40 years Beard was the soul of the Smoketown neighborhood. She fed community members, politicians, and celebrities at her restaurant.
Beard had her hands full with running the restaurant and a juke joint but somehow had enough time to cook up "Salute to Black Jockeys, Inc."
It's an annual event to celebrate the history of Black jockeys in the Kentucky Derby. She even drained her retirement funds to keep this celebration free for the whole community.
To honor her legacy and impact on the city, Beard lied in repose for viewing at the Kentucky Derby Museum Friday evening.Â
Loved ones said they were humbled by the outpouring of love after her passing.
"Her motivation was love and it was essentially that wellspring of love as a mother to us, as a family, to embracing the community and the city, and children everywhere, really, and adults," Beard's son, Warren Simpson, said. "She would pull your collar as an adult as well, but that was her motivation. And when we look back and see the things that she accomplished, it's almost like she lived t wo or three lives in one life."
Beard was laid to rest Saturday at noon at Community Missionary Baptist Church in Newburg.
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