For years, Shirley’s Pizza was more than just a place to grab a slice in Owensboro. It was a community hub run by Shirley Jolly, who balanced raising five children, farming, and supporting her husband’s career while managing the beloved restaurant on 12th and Triplett streets.
The building itself carried a long history in Owensboro. It first housed The Pizza House, opened by two Italian immigrants in the 1950s. The business later passed to Lewis Cossler and his family, then to Evansville-based Una Pizza, before eventually landing in Jolly’s hands in 1970.
“I didn’t know anything about running a pizza place at first, but I decided I could do it,” Jolly said. “I learned from the very bottom, except I never could swirl the dough; I let the boys do that.”
At the time, Jolly was a mother of five who had already spent years farming tobacco in Hancock County to buy her first car. Her husband, Shelby, worked as an engineer at General Electric after serving in the military. Jolly said she wanted something of her own.
“I needed the me part of it, I guess, because I had had the kids and raised tobacco and helped on the farm,” she said. “So I went to work.”
Inside Shirley’s Pizza, customers could expect more than food. The televisions were tuned to soap operas, and nurses from the nearby hospital would swap stories on their breaks while grabbing lunch.
“I liked the social part of it,” Jolly said. “Everybody came in, and you’d hear all the stories.”
The shop thrived, but it wasn’t without challenges. One night, Jolly hid in fear as a man broke in, tore apart a cigarette machine, and ransacked the kitchen.
“My heart was pounding so hard, I thought he would hear me breathing,” she said.
Police arrived just as the intruder slipped away, but she never forgot the scare.
Running the business also meant long hours — often seven days a week — and plenty of learning on the fly. High school boys made deliveries, but Jolly handled most everything else herself, sometimes putting in 80 hours a week. She leaned on trusted employees like her manager, Glenda, as well as her own children to keep the shop going.
Still, the work had its rewards.
Jolly said even her children’s pediatrician, Dr. Bickle, told her not to worry when the kids ate leftover pizza for breakfast.
“He always said it had all the vitamins they needed — meat, vegetables, dairy — even if it was cold in the morning,” she said.
By 1986, Jolly sold the shop after 16 years of ownership, closing a chapter that had helped shape both her family and her community. Her husband’s retirement and her own exhaustion from long hours played into the decision.
“I just got too old for it,” she said. “But I had a pretty good reputation, and you’d be surprised how much it meant to people. It was kind of like therapy.”
Today, at 88, Jolly still smiles when people recognize her from Shirley’s Pizza. The restaurant may have changed hands and eventually closed, but her legacy — one of determination, community spirit, and a love for family — remains tied to Owensboro’s story.
