Shirley Graham: Hi, this is Ruth Graham Seagrass, and Shirley Graham was my aunt. Shirley passed away in 1977. She pronounced her name Shirley Graham. Actually when she was Christened, she was named Lola Bell Graham. But after she graduated from college, she changed her first name from Lola to Shirley. Her middle name, Bell, was her mother's maiden name. You see, her grandfather was a Native American of the Osage Nation in Missouri. He fell in love with the beautiful daughter of a slave woman and rescued the young lady from slavery. They got married and moved to Minnesota and he changed his Indian name to Bell. That's how Shirley got her middle name.