Shirley and Rosie: How a Special Friendship Reached Kids for Jesus

Shirley Whitehead

Shirley Whitehead and Rosie de Montmorency were a force to be reckoned with. Over the span of four decades the pair travelled thousands of miles, coast-to-coast across Canada and into the United States, sharing the love of Jesus with children and youth.

Shirley and Rosie met as young students at Toronto Bible College (now Tyndale University). In 1953 they joined Canadian Sunday School Mission (now One Hope Canada) as missionaries. Over the next 40 years they would share Jesus with thousands of children in Sunday schools, clubs and camp ministries. Shirley was the storyteller; Rosie the artist, illustrating Bible stories with beautiful chalk drawings.

“I loved what I was doing. It wasn’t work,” Shirley said in a 2019 interview. “I loved the kids. I was never more happy than when Rosie was chalking and I was talking, and telling the kids about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Shirley Whitehead

Shirley and Rosie, sharing the Bible story in the mid-1970s (top photo) and at the beginning of their ministry in 1953 (above).

Rosie passed away March 15, 2017, and Shirley on March 26, 2020. A little more than a year before her passing, Shirley recorded the interview below for One Hope Canada.

One Hope Canada

Sharing the love of Jesus with children and youth through Bible camps, community ministries, digital ministry, and training resources.