Born: 2 April 1936, United States (assumed)
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Skyrim Grandma
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Shirley Curry gained a following at the intersection of two realms not often associated with women her age at the time: YouTube and video games. Joining the platform in 2011, around age 75, she didn’t upload her first video until 2015. Curry represented a “grandma” figure to many, amassing more than 1.3 million subscribers by the time she announced her retirement in 2024 after almost a decade and over 2,300 videos. In a setting where so much of video game culture is rife with bullying, harassment, and prejudice (misogyny, racism, and homophobia are just a few of gaming culture’s many issues), Curry’s wholesome Skyrim videos were like a soothing balm for those wanting to share in the joys of playing. Her videos were often accompanied by comments like “Petition for Grandma Shirley to be classified as a national treasure.” Filming in her Ohio home, she always signed off with “Bye-bye grandkids.”
Although she described herself as “just a newbie old grandma,” she’d been playing since her son taught her how to play Civilization II in 1996—longer than many of her fellow gamer content creators had been alive. “I’d play so much, day and night,” she said. “I’d just go out and conquer continent after continent and I loved it.” Like her “grandkids,” Curry said she went online in search of community that she wasn’t finding among her fellow seniors in real life.
“We talked about quilting and things like that, but we didn’t talk about games because they didn’t know anything about them,” she said. “I didn’t have anyone to talk about games with.”