Shirley Dowd Brantley was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1934. She graduated from South Hills High School in 1952 and immediately enlisted in the air force. She completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas in the fall of 1952 and and then trained to be a dental technician at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. In January 1953 returned to Lackland, and in October of that year met Charles Brantley, an air force dental lab technician. The two were married in November of 1954, and Brantley was discharged the following month.
After her service, Brantley moved to Monroe, North Carolina, with her husband. There they ran a sandwich shop. When her first child was born, she and her husband moved to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and they later relocated to Durham, North Carolina. Brantley has eight children and currently resides in Statesville, North Carolina.
