Chronology of My Life
| March 28, 1921 | Birth of Kenneth Eugene Shirey to Burton Joshua Shirey and Lillian Marie Keller Shirey in Youngstown, Ohio |
| October 21, 1926 | Birth of Marjorie Irene Thorvick to Ben Thorvick and Maybelle Hauske Thorvick in Fargo, North Dakota |
| September 1944 | Maybelle Thorvick moves with Margie and Jack from Anaheim to 4437 14th Street in Long Beach, California, next door to Burton and Lillian Shirey at 4447, whose sons Ken and Don were in military service. |
| July 30, 1949 | Marriage of Kenneth & Marjorie Shirey at Trinity Lutheran Church in Long Beach, California |
| 1952 | Ken and Margie buy a new house at 6743 Premium Street in Long Beach |
| August 30, 1953 | Birth of Jeffery Michael Lau in Honolulu, Hawaii |
| November 2, 1955 | Baby shower for Margie hosted by her best friend Pat Bartnett and her sister-in-law Rosemary Thorvick |
| December 13, 1955 | Born at Harriman Jones Hospital, Broadway and Cherry, Long Beach, California, at 1:22 a.m. |
| December 27, 1955 | I got my first cold and had my first penicillin shot. |
| February 26, 1956 | Born again in Jesus Christ and baptized into the Christian Church at Trinity Lutheran, Long Beach, California. The Second Sunday in Lent. Picture. Certificate. |
| June 23, 1956 | My first tooth came in. |
| July 3, 1956 | Duchess, our Dalmatian is born. A couple months later I would go along with my parents when they picked her out and brought her home. |
| December 9, 1956 | Jeffery, having been born August 30, 1953, was baptized along with his sister and brother at an Episcopal church in Los Angeles. |
| January 19, 1957 | I first walked. About the same time I said my first word, "There." |
| July 1957 | My first trip to Villa Grande to visit Aunt Marie and Uncle Charlie. |
| September 21, 1957 | Birth of my cousin Susan Lynn Thorvick in Long Beach |
| November 27, 1957 | Birth of Sean Tracy Raab in Toledo, Ohio |
| December 8, 1957 | Early birthday for me since the baby was due. Mother noted that I was fascinated by the baby Susan and thought she was the baby we were expecting. |
| December 11, 1957 | My brother Paul Randall Shirey was born at Harriman Jones (one of the last babies born there). |
| June 1958 | I went to Knott's Berry Farm with Nana and cousin Tommy. The two little brats -- Paul and Susie -- stayed home. |
| August 1958 | My second trip to the Russian River, to go to Uncle Charlie's funeral. |
| September 1961 | Started kindergarten at Elwood P. Cubberley Elementary School, two blocks from our house in Long Beach. |
| June 14, 1962 | Graduated from kindergarten. We wore mortar boards. |
| November 20, 1963 | Birth of Michael Raymond Ewing in Pensacola, Florida |
| June 15, 1964 | Birth of Robert Darrell Hall in Texas City, Texas |
| May 6, 1966 | Birth of Keith Edward Linville in Indianapolis, Indiana |
| June 1967 | Finished 5th grade at Elwood P. Cubberley Elementary School. Next year I would attend the special gifted student program at Henry. |
| June 1968 | Graduated from Patrick Henry Elementary School |
| July 13, 1969 | Princess, our second Dalmatian was born. We brought her home the week before Duchess died. |
| September 17, 1969 | Duchess, our Dalmatian, dies. The first death I remember having a major emotional impact on me. |
| May 30, 1971 | Confirmation. St. Luke Lutheran Church, Long Beach. The Day of Pentecost |
| June 6, 1971 | First Communion. St. Luke Lutheran Church, Long Beach. Trinity Sunday. |
| June 17, 1971 | Graduated from John Marshall Junior High School in Long Beach. Junior high had been the most fun of my schooling because we did everything at school. |
| June 11, 1973 | Started the Summer Linguistics Institute at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where we linguistics and worked with Navajo Indians to study their language. |
| September 1973 | Began my first job, working as part-time secretary at St. Luke Lutheran Church. |
| June 12, 1974 | Graduated from Robert A. Millikan High School in Long Beach with 4.0 GPA. |
| November 17, 1974 | Birth of Jonathan C McClure in Okinawa |
| April 24, 1975 | Birth of Steven Daniel Matott in Plattsburgh, New York |
| October 1975 | Began work at Drown News Agency, the book and magazine wholesaler in Westminster. My boss was John Jennison from St. Luke's, one of the most influential people of my life. |
| June 18, 1976 | Elected to membership in Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical engineering honors fraternity. |
| August 1976 | Drove with Pastor Roger Magnuson, Jackie Deuschle, and the high school kids of St. Luke's in a motor home to the Lutheran Youth Gathering in New Orleans, Louisiana. |
| June 8, 1977 | Registered as an Engineer-in-Training (EIT) in California #41989. |
| June 11, 1977 | Bachelor of Science in engineering, University of California at Irvine. Diploma. |
| June 10, 1978 | Master of Engineering, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Diploma. |
| September 1-18, 1978 | Dad and I took a Greyhound bus tour around the continent. LA to Vancouver to New Brunswick to Key West and back. 12,000 miles and lots of stuff in between. |
| January 1979 | Began work at EECO Incorporated as intern in the Management Information Systems Department. |
| February 26, 1979 | Total solar eclipse. 8:18 a.m. outside Richland, Washington, with my cousin Sue McCargar. I had flown up to see this event with my cousins who lived there. |
| July 28, 1979 | I gave a surprise 30th anniversary party for my parents at our home in Irvine. I had flown them to Las Vegas and about 75 people were there when they got home. |
| August 24, 1979 | Bought my first real estate, my rental condominium at 2537 Grambling Way, Riverside. |
| December 13-22, 1979 | Portraits of the Prince of Peace. I served as president this year of the ecumenical Christmas Pageant presented by St. Luke's as well as the Christian Reformed, American and Southern Baptist, and Roman Catholic churches in that corner of Long Beach. |
| March 30, 1980 | Confirmed into the Episcopal Church. St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Tustin. The Sunday of the Passion. |
| May 12, 1981 | First U.S. passport issued. |
| June 14, 1980 | Master of Science in business administration, University of California at Irvine. Diploma. |
| July 12-August 6, 1981 | Tour of English cathedrals with Fr. Bob Boyer. Walked the countryside with Bob after the tour. At the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Then took train to Scandinavia. |
| October 1981 | Rented a room from family friend Julie Geveshausen in Los Alamitos, California. |
| November 8, 1981 | My first date ever, with Robert Serrano in Alhambra. |
| January 1982 | Bought my condominium at 2245 Clover Drive, Tustin. |
| April 25, 1982 | First date with Jeffery Lau at which time we both knew it would be life-long. St. Mark's Day. The Third Sunday of Easter. |
| May 28-31, 1982 | I fly up to Seattle for Memorial Day weekend to visit Jeffery and cement our plans for him to move back to Tustin. |
| July 1982 | I fly to Seattle and we drive Jeffery's car and a U-Haul down to the condo in Tustin. |
| January 1983 | Laid off by EECO Incorporated in significant corporate downsizing. My department was dissolved and my staff divided between Personnel and Facilities. |
| February 26, 1983 | Began work for Southern California Edison in the Research and Development Department in Rosemead. Technically an employee of the Los Angeles County Museum. |
| February 21, 1984 | Hired by Southern California Edison as official employee. Transferred to Residential Conservation in downtown Long Beach. |
| March 16, 1984 | Registered Professional Engineer in California. Electrical #E-11818. Certificate. |
| May 21, 1984 | Jeffery and I bought the 2,800 square foot house at 2302 West Adams Street, Santa Ana, and sold my condominium in Tustin. We traded with the owner of the house, a woman who worked with Jeffery who had gotten divorced. |
| June 9, 1984 | Diploma in Theology, Episcopal Theological School at Claremont (Bloy House). Diploma. |
| September 24, 1984 | Jeffery commissioned deacon in the Metropolitan Community Church |
| November 25, 1984 | Married Jeffery Michael Lau, Santa Ana, California. "In the presence of our parents, on the Feast of Christ the King." |
| January 7, 1985 | Jeffery and I legally changed our last names to Shirilau in Orange County Superior Court, Santa Ana, California. |
| May 18, 1985 | Master of Arts in religion, School of Theology at Claremont. Dilploma. |
| December 21-28, 1985 | Jeffery and I drove to all 21 California missions from San Diego to Sonoma. |
| February 18, 1986 | The Russian River floods to 48.56 feet at Hacienda, its highest recorded level, and the Villa Grande house floods for the first time ever and only time so far. |
| October 22, 1986 | Sold the condominium in Riverside. |
| January 11, 1987 | Ratification of the first canon law of the Ecumenical Catholic Church. Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. |
| March 10, 1987 | The Ecumenical Catholic Church is incorporated as a California nonprofit corporation. |
| March 12, 1987 | We learn that Jeffery is HIV-positive and I am negative. We decide to plan the Asia trip. |
| June 3, 1987 | The Internal Revenue Service issues the ECC its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. |
| November 1-22, 1987 | Jeffery and I toured Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, with a week in Hawaii afterward. Met his grandmother and aunt Nona for the first time. |
| December 27, 1987 | Ordained at the chapel of the School of Theology at Claremont. The First Sunday of Christmas, the Feast of St. John the Evangelist. |
| April 10, 1988 | Certified as advanced open water SCUBA diver. |
| May 6, 1988 | Licensed as an electrical (C-10) contractor in California. #529654 Certificate. |
| May 26, 1988 | Aloha Systems, Incorporated is incorporated by the state of California. |
| September 4, 1988 | First publicly announced service of St. John Ecumenical Catholic Church at our home in Santa Ana. The 15th Sunday after Pentecost. |
| September 20, 1988 | Aloha Systems is licensed as a general (B) and electrical (C-10) contractor, with Jeffery as the B qualifying officer and me as the C-10 qualifying officer. #541443 |
| May 8, 1989 | Aloha Systems moved into its 8,000-square-foot office at 3211-A South Harbor Boulevard, Santa Ana. |
| June 17, 1989 | Doctor of Philosophy in engineering, University of California at Irvine. Diploma. |
| July 10, 1989 | Baptism of Robert Oscar Simpson in Los Angeles. My first baptism. Robert died of AIDS two weeks later. |
| July 21, 1989 | Resigned from Southern California Edison to work for Aloha Systems full time. |
| March 3-16, 1990 | International heat pump conference and tour in Japan with Bob Vierthaler. |
| November 26-28, 1990 | Took a cruise to the Bahamas with Jeffery and three electric utility friends. |
| December 1990 | Jeffery and I moved to Villa Grande and lived in the family home that had been Aunt Marie's. |
| May 19, 1991 | Consecrated bishop by Bishop Donald Lawrence Jolly in San Bernardino, California. The Feast of Pentecost. |
| July 27, 1991 | Ordained Bruce David LeBlanc to the priesthood for the Ecumenical Catholic Church at the Episcopal church in Pocatello, Idaho. Picture. |
| August 13, 1991 | We sold the house in Santa Ana after having rented it about a year. |
| November 20, 1992 | Bought our 3,800-square-foot three-story home on the Russian River at 20200 River Boulevard, Monte Rio. |
| December 18, 1992 | Ordained Robert Wayne "Marty" Martin and Clifford Randall Lyde to the priesthood for the Ecumenical Catholic Church at Lighthouse Metropolitan Community Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. |
| April 25, 1993 | We spend our 11th anniversary in Seattle, where Jeffery had been living when we met. The we fly to Juneau and Anchorage and tour Alaska, my 50th state to visit. |
| May 29, 1993 | Meredith Louise Ille is ordained to the diaconate, the first woman I ordained. Pentecost Day in Oklahoma City. Jeffery was too sick to travel. |
| June 25, 1993 | We complete the printing of The Holy Eucharist and Other Sacramental Rites, the comprehensive liturgy book of the Ecumenical Catholic Church. |
| July 2, 1993 | Conducted the wedding of my brother Paul Randall Shirey to Myra Ewing Radlow. |
| July 18, 1993 | Ordained Michael Robert Frost and Denis Armand Martel to the priesthood for the Ecumenical Catholic Church in Plattsburgh, New York. Jeffery and I drove to all six New England state capitals the week before. |
| July 25, 1993 | Jeffery and I were the ecumenical guests of the Reverend Elder Troy Perry at the international conference of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in Phoenix, Arizona. |
| August 8, 1993 | We held a healing service for Jeffery in the home chapel in Monte Rio. Many mainline ministers from the county participated. |
| August 9, 1993 | Jeffery died about 2:30 p.m. at our home on the Russian River in Monte Rio, California. His mother Dolores, my friend Sean Raab, and my cousin Susan Romero were there with us. Jeffery died in spiritual health, ready to go home. |
| August 21, 1993 | Jeffery's California funeral at First Congregational United Church of Christ, Santa Rosa. |
| August 30, 1993 | Jeffery's funeral and burial at Hawaiian Memorial Park, Kaneohe, Hawaii, on his 40th birthday. |
| September 15-26, 1993 | I drove 4,035 miles and visited all 58 courthouses of California's counties. This was a healing process and based upon Jeffery's and my plans to visit all the state capitals. |
| December 15, 1993 | Keith Linville and I begin our friendship. Picture. |
| September 10, 1994 | I ordain Lorraine Bouffard, a former Roman Catholic nun, to the priesthood, the first woman I ordained as priest. |
| January 9, 1995 | The Russian River floods to 48.1 feet at Hacienda Bridge, and comes about 6 feed into the first floor ("basement") of my house, while I am in Washington, D.C. |
| January 11, 1995 | The Reverend Sarah Flynn, a transgendered United Methodist minister, is received into the ECC priesthood while maintaining her status as a UMC minister, a major ecumenical breakthrough. |
| March 10, 1995 | The Russian River floods again, this time only to 42.2 feet at Hacienda. |
| July 8, 1995 | I consecrated Fr. Richard John Cardarelli, Fr. Michael Robert Frost, Fr. Denis Armand Martel, and Fr. Robert Wayne Martin as bishops for the ECC's new dioceses. The ceremony was held at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Santa Rosa, where Jeffery's funeral had been. Picture. |
| December 20, 1995 | The church bought its first building, an old Methodist church in Jacksonville, Illinois, which tragically burned soon after. Arson was suspected but never proven. |
| January 1, 1997 | I spend New Year's Eve crating boxes up the stairs as the river prepares to flood. It reaches 45 feet at Hacienda and well into my basement. |
| June 11, 1999 | Sold my house in Monte Rio. |
| July 16, 1999 | Bought my condominium at 20 Lincoln, Irvine. |
| April 24, 2000 | Left Austin, Texas, with Rob Hall when he moved out to live with me. |
| June 8, 2000 | Licensed as a "B" (general) contractor. |
| November 13, 2000 | Dolores Bennett Lau, Jeffery's mother, dies of cancer at home in Tustin. She had become my best friend. |
| February 16, 2001 | Licensed as a professional engineer in Texas, #88014 |
| June 23, 2001 | Aloha Systems moved into its new office at 2361 Richter Avenue #120, Irvine. |
| August 17, 2001 | Malama Uila® service mark issued to Aloha Systems. |
| September 1, 2001 | Mother falls and breaks her pelvis in the SeaTac airport on her way with Dad to meet Paul, Myra, and Coquelicot to cruise through Alaska |
| November 9-12, 2001 | My spiritual journey at Jeffery's grave in Kaneohe, Oahu. |
| September 9-10, 2001 | I went with Marty Martin to Plattsburgh to visit Mike Frost and go to Montreal. We visited Jon McClure. I changed my flight from Burlington and left a day early so I could go to Seattle the 11th and bring Mother home. |
| September 18, 2001 | The airports have reopened, Dad has driven back with Paul, and we now fly back up to Seattle to bring Mother home. |
| February 2002 | Jonathan McClure visits California for two weeks, which ends up to be the start of our relationship. Picture. |
| March 22 - April 7, 2002 | Spiritual journey to Constantinople and Rome, and tour of Turkey and Italy with Bishop Marty Martin. |
| September 19, 2003 | I bought a house in Irvine (14801 Comet Street) around the corner from my parents as an investment. Aloha moves out of its rented space and becomes my tenant, which means I have a good tenant and Aloha has a decent landlord. It works very well. |
| December 1, 2003 | Aloha moves out of its rented space and into my other house, which means I have a good tenant and Aloha has a decent landlord. It works very well. |
| May 9, 2004 | The 5th Sunday of Easter in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Richard Kent Hollingworth is consecrated bishop of the Ecumenical Anglican Church. The ECC and EAC together form the Communion of Ecumenical Churches, and I am elected to serve as primate. |
| May 15, 2004 | I first talk with Steven Daniel Matott on the telephone. We spend an hour and a half exploring the possibility of relationship. |
| June 8, 2004 | I met Steven Matott at the Long Beach Airport and we had our first date at the Lone Star at the Long Beach Marina. He spent the next week with me in Irvine. Picture. |
| August 9, 2004 | On Monday at 2:30 I walked into the river at 20200 River Blvd, put flowers in the river, and recited my marriage vows in the past tense. It was the pivot point of a couple months of really and truly releasing Jeffery. The 11th anniversary of an 11-year relationship. Strangely, I had finally tackled a major structural repair at the Villa Grande house, feeling confident with Steven's help -- the first major job since Jeffery reworked the back porch. Steven and my worker-friend Greg Darst were literally holding up the porch with stakes when I put the flowers in the river. Picture. |
| September 9-12, 2004 | I tour far northern California and obtain 22 Sesquicentennial stamps since Paul is almost done with his book. This is the first time I had been to Crescent City or Susanville since the tour after Jeffery's death, and it ends up being a very healing and releasing process. |
| October 23, 2004 | At 12:44 I get my stamp at Crystal Cover State Park. This completes the 153 stamps of the California 150 Sesquicentennial Passport book that Paul and I have been completing during the past 4 years. I had saved Crystal Cove, in Orange County, for last. Within 5 minutes of this time, Paul received his last stamp on Alcatraz Island. |
| November 29, 2004 | My letter to the editor about George Bush's supposed "moral values" is published in several papers and also Newsweek, the first time one in a national venue. PDF. |
| December 12, 2004 | Steven has finished most of his house in New York, which I have helped him finance and rebuild as a symbol of him moving on in his life. He flew out and we spent my birthday together. Our goal is to be together for the long haul. |
| September 20, 2005 | After long discussions on spending their lives together, Steven Daniel Matott and Mark Steven Shirilau have decided to get married and are now officially engaged. |
