Tuesday, October 05, 2010

remembering Shirley


Last August, our friend, Shirley Willey lost his battle with cancer. His dear wife, Alberta, sons - Scott and Thom, grandchildren and many, many friends will certainly miss his quiet and sweet spirit. In celebration of his life, his family hosted a reception on Saturday, and Ed and I traveled to Southwest Harbor to be a part of it.



We met Alberta and Shirley nearly thirty years ago, when another friend Sam invited us there for a firemen's muster. Sam had joined the coast guard, and when he was stationed in Southwest, he encouraged the fire company to run their very first firemen's muster. He then asked our fire company if we would travel up and support them, which we did... and continued to do for a number of years afterwards, with both fire companines traveling back and forth to each other's musters. Because of this, we have a number of very dear friends in Southwest, and though we don't see them nearly enough, it is like old times any time we do have the chance to be together.



Shirley was a stone mason, a very talented stone mason, and he worked with his brother Berton. All over Mount Desert Island, you can find projects that the Willey brothers have done together, everything from great stone fireplaces and chimneys, to walls, patios.. driveways... just about anything that can be done from stone. And many of their projects were done for the Rockefeller families, who own quite a number of estates on the island. But it made no matter to Shirley "who" he worked for... the biggest multi dollar projects or the smallest ones.. his love and talent shows in each one.




Shirley was one of the kindest, gentle people that I have ever had the privilege to know. He always had a smile and took great pleasure in the simplest things in life. He even had a pet name for me ... "Trolley"... because when they came to visit, he always enjoyed going to Ogunquit with us and riding the trolleys that took you around town. He dearly loved his family and was so proud of his sons, and their families. To say that we will miss Shirley is an understatement... Southwest Harbor will always be one of my most favorite places on earth... but now.. it will never be quite the same.



"God speed our friend... the stones you'll use in heaven will be made of gold"


1 comment:

~Traci~ said...

Well, Sue, you made me cry. =] What a touching tribute to Shirley. He really was a sweet man, and we will miss him...