Shirley L. Foote
March 14, 1929 – January 5, 2012
Seacoast Sunday, January 8, 2012
[The following article is courtesy of the Seacoast Sunday and Seacoast Online.]
AMESBURY, Mass. — Shirley L. Foote, 82, of Seabrook, died Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, at Amesbury Village Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Amesbury.
Born March 14, 1929, in Seabrook, N.H., she was the daughter of the late Claude R. and Helen (Smith) Gilmore. As a child, she attended the Boyd School on Washington Street in Seabrook.
She lived at Hampton Beach for most of her adult life, then moved to her daughter Susan’s home on the Foote Homestead land in Seabrook, where she lived independently in a family apartment for the last six years of her life.
Shirley was a 1947 graduate of Hampton Academy and of the Massachusetts College of Art.
Shirley worked most of her life for her family’s 82-year-old business, Smith and Gilmore Deep Sea Fishing, at Hampton Beach, as a worm digger, clerk, ticket sales, office manager and company bookkeeper. Since 1974, she co-owned and operated the business until her retirement. She was proud to have been the first woman licensed by the State of New Hampshire to dig for sea worms, which were used for bait in the family business.
In her retirement, she enjoyed gardening, bird watching, reading and crocheting. She donated many afghans to local charities.
The widow of Sea Captain John R. Foote, who died in 1991, she is survived by her daughter, Catherine Silver and her husband, Douglas, of South Hampton; her daughter, Susan Foote of Seabrook; two grandchildren, Matthew and Christine Silver of Hampton Beach; her brother, C. Raymond Gilmore and his wife, Arlene, of Center Barnstead; and several nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her son-in-law, Vincent Sljaka, who died in 2009.
SERVICES: Private services will be held at the convenience of the family. If desired, memorials may be made to the Hampton Beach Beautification Committee, care of Linda Gebhart, 4 Bailey Ave., Hampton Beach, NH 03842, or the Seabrook Conservation Fund, P.O. Box 456, Seabroo,k NH 03874. Arrangements are by Remick and Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory, Hampton; visit www.Remick Gendron.com for online condolences.