EDMOND, OKLA. – On Sept. 29, 1986, in Bar Harbor, a precious angel was born to Cindy Bernstein and Robert Zerrien Sr. On Dec. 4, 2016, in Edmond, Okla., this beautiful angel was taken Home, with her family by her side. Shayla, born in Maine, grew up all across the country. When she was just two years old, she began her journey around the country, living in South Carolina, Maine, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and ending up back in Oklahoma to graduate high school. She decided to make Oklahoma her home, along with her brother BJ.
Not long after high school, Shayla met her soul mate, Austin, who previously passed on April 2 of this year. They were together for over 11 years, and married for almost six of those years. She has two precious boys that she leaves behind, Alijha, 6, and Rhyker, who just turned 2 the day before she passed. Shayla loved spending every bit of her time with her husband and their two boys. Watching Ninja Turtles with Alijha, Michelangelo was her personal favorite growing up. She used to walk around with two thumbs up uttering “Cowabunga Dude!” She was working with Rhyker and teaching him how to talk and be more independent. You couldn’t carry on a conversation with Shayla without hearing about how great the kids were doing. Holiday dinners at her brother’s or mom’s usually included lobster, of which all Shayla really cared about was sucking the meat out of all the legs.
She is a daughter, a sister, a mother and a wife, but that doesn’t begin to describe what she really meant to the ones that love her. She is a spitfire, you never had to worry about Shayla holding back or not telling you what she really thinks. She had no filters, but that’s what most of her friends love about her. Her friends were “all” her family. She truly had no enemies. She was more than just a ray of sunshine to those who loved her; she was the sun, the moon and the stars.
Those called home before her were her precious Austin (her husband and her only love), her brother Shawn, her paternal grandparents Charlene and Richard Zerrien Sr., her paternal grandmother Marguerite Hamblen and her Uncle “Bubba” Gordon McIntire.
Her passing has left a hole in the hearts of her two beautiful sons, Alijha Austn Dunn and Rhyker Austn Dunn, her mother Cindy Bernstein, fathers Robert Zerrien Sr. and Eric Bernstein, brother BJ Bernstein and his wife, Lacey, and son Corbin, sister Ashley Scott, maternal grandparents Rose and Thomas McIntire, maternal grandmother Billie McIntire, paternal grandfather Ari Bernstein, mother-in-law Tonya McDaniel, father-in-law Kelly Dunn and wife, Kristen, grandmother-in-law Frances “Meme” McDaniel, grandfather-in-law Sammy “Papa” McDaniel, brother-in-law Caylan Dunn and Megan Pinkston, brother-in-law Ayden Dunn and sister-in-law Ciara Dunn. All of Shayla’s aunts, uncles and cousins, great-grandparents-in-law and forever-loving-friends all share this great loss. God has called her Home, but we will see her again.
A come-and-go visitation for Shayla will be held from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, at Crawford Funeral Service, Edmond, Okla., with friends being received from 1 to 8 p.m. The celebration of Shayla’s life will be on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 2 p.m. at the funeral home.
Author information
The post Shayla Dunn appeared first on The Ellsworth American.