Shirley Werner marks 75th bowling season

Emily Gojmerac

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Shirley Werner has been a life-long Medford resident. She and her late husband Chow Werner raised their family here and have created a good life.

Shirley has always had a love of sports, but the one sport she has kept close to her heart is bowling. She started bowling at the age of 18 in 1948, where she met her husband, Chow Werner.

“Chow was a good bowler and he got me interested in the game. He worked at the local bowling alley and I fell in love with the game,” Shirley said.

Chow was best known for bowling Medford’s first 300 game. It would be another 20 years before Don Meyer would achieve that score and another 20 years after that until it would be achieved a third time.

She and Chow never bowled in couples leagues, they always stayed with their respective men and women leagues.

Shirley credits the camaraderie and the competition for her love of the game as her reason for continuing to play.

Shirley and Chow had three children, two daughters and a son, and they all raised their families in Medford. While her children were growing up, bowling was the only recreational activity they did. She looked forward to the scheduled time each week. As her children got a little older, Shirley decided to take up a few more sports, golfing and skiing, which she enjoyed.

“Bowling and golf are sports for a lifetime,” Shirley said.

Shirley’s grandson, Kurt Werner, continues to play the game to this day.

“He takes after his grandfather, he is a natural,” Shirley says.

Over the years, Shirley has played over 40 state tour-naments and over 25 national tournaments. The first tournament she competed in was in 1977, in Milwaukee as part of the Women’s International Bowling Congress (WIBC), now known as the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) that now combines the men and women into the same congress.

At one time, bowling was the world’s number one participant sport. Wisconsin was always one with the most participants and the largest state tournaments in the United States.

As memorabilia for all of her tournaments, she has collected numerous patches and pins that tell where she has been throughout the years, thanks to bowling.

Shirley has always done 10-pin bowling, however whenever she and her team want to have a fun day, they will play a few frames of 8 pin.

Working full time in the Medford Clinic office for 40 years left little time for traveling. The only traveling that she had done in those years, was to go to bowling tournaments. Some of the states that she has bowled in are Nevada, Kentucky, California, Iowa and Louisiana, to name a few. With her travels, she would do some sightseeing at Disney World, Washington D.C, and Niagara Falls.

Over time, the rules of bowling have stayed pretty consistent, but the scoring has gotten more accurate, thanks to technology.

She has held many office positions in the Medford Women’s Bowling Association and has a President’s plaque recognizing her years of service.

“I have never practiced, there was never any time. I now bowl three games per week,” Shirley said.

Her average score is 165. Shirley has been married Corliss Jensen (98) for the past 14 years.

She continues to enjoy the sport of bowling and has many mementoes to prove her accomplishments. Bowling will always be a part of Shirley’s legacy.

Wisconsin Women’s Bowling Association (WWBA) Tournament 1956 in Neenah-Menasha. Pictured here are (l. to r.) Gerry Ruesch, Jean Kostner, Shirley Werner, Sally Ziemer and Alda Frey.Submitted

Shirley lets her ball go down the lane for a perfect strike during Monday’s game.

These are some of the patches and pins that Shirley has collected over the years from local and national tournaments that she has competed in. The first patch she received was in 1977.