Thank You, Shirley McIntire

With heaviest of hearts we post the news that dear friend and Penikese stalwart Shirley McIntire passed away Easter Sunday. Her obituary appeared in today’s papers. For those of us at the Penikese Island School and the countless others her life graced in many ways, words cannot describe our admiration and love for Shirley, nor our grief in losing her.

Those who had the good fortune to meet Shirley know that she was diminutive in physical stature, but extraordinary in every other way: her forceful but unassuming character, compassion for those who suffer and strength and comfort in presence of that suffering, a spirituality that matched deeds to words, and a practical, no-nonsense way of getting jobs done.

I hold up Shirley and her husband Bob as instrumentally supportive during a difficult time when the mantle of a faltering Penikese unexpectedly fell upon my shoulders in 1996. They rallied an entire community to the school’s cause with prayer, volunteerism, donations of all kinds, and most importantly, their belief that Penikese’s mission was worth supporting and I worthy of its leadership. In many ways, Shirley helped save Penikese then and since worked with us towards the place, stronger than ever on the eve of our 35th anniversary, we hold today.

With more stories and tributes to come, our hearts go out to Bob McIntire and his family as we contemplate the empty feeling of going on without her.