NEWBERRY SPRINGS — Members of Shirley Trueman’s family do not doubt that she specifically chose her day to die.

“She passed on a leap day. We only have to think about it on a leap day,” said Trueman’s daughter, Tammy Totten. “That’s what my mom would have done. I wouldn’t be surprised if she planned it that day.”

Trueman, 62, died on Friday, Feb. 29, after a short battle with cancer left her speechless and bed-bound for the final days of her life. Friends and family said the onset of the disease — first diagnosed in November 2007 and then spreading to her thyroid, two spots in her lungs, her colon and a tube above her kidneys — and her death happened so fast that the family fell to pieces after hearing the news on Friday. Andrea Pruett, who owns the Bagdad Cafe in Newberry Springs said the restaurant is not going to be the same without Trueman’s laugh and spirit.

“I’m going to miss her every time a bus comes in,” Pruett said, referring to the song and dance routines Trueman would perform for tourists traveling Route 66.

Last week, Pruett and others in Newberry Springs began raising money in hopes of flying Trueman back to Missouri to see her family before she died. Money came in slow at first, but after an article in the Desert Dispatch, word spread, and more than $2,500 was raised, Pruett said. The family found out late last week that Trueman was too weak to fly, and Totten and her three children used the money to drive through the night to spend time with her before she died.

“It was freaking awesome. That little-itty town,” Totten said. “Newberry Springs and Barstow, and all those people around there, they know who they are. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Pruett said donations, large and small came from all over. One resident in Newberry Springs sent her children to a local truck stop with buckets plastered with the newspaper article about Trueman and asked for donations. Totten said it meant a lot to her and her children to see Trueman one more time. She hardly left Trueman’s side during the whole visit.

Money left over from the donations will be used to cover Trueman’s funeral and cremation. Her ashes will also be sent to her family in Missouri. Bud, her husband, a former cook at the Bagdad Cafe, is also planning on moving to Missouri, Pruett said.

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(760) 256-4121 or aaron_aupperlee@link.freedom.com