Obituary of Shirley G. Howard

Shirley G. Howard, 89, of Swanville, Maine, went home to be with the Lord on January 4, 2021. Shirley was born on April 17, 1931, to the late Milford and Evelyn Grant, in Stockton Springs, Maine. After graduating high school in Stockton Springs, Shirley furthered her education in New York at Mrs. Skinner’s Secretarial School in Great Neck, Long Island, and then went to work for the Pentagon, in the Naval Department. She then returned home to Stockton Springs to meet and marry her husband, Kenneth in 1952. Shirley spent the majority of her working life in law offices, including the late Justice Herbert Silsby, retiring in 1998 from the law firm of Blake and Hazard. Shirley’s intense interest in politics was well known to her family, as was her love of candy bars, cheese popcorn, animal crackers and Ramen Noodles. She was an avid reader, and a fierce gamesman. She often combined gaming with travel to such exotic places as Biloxi, Shreveport, Tampa, Caribbean cruises or even Bangor, Maine! And no family member ever made the mistake of getting between her and her morning coffee. She was predeceased by her husband, Kenneth Howard, brothers Milford and Manley, a grandson, Jeremy Beal, and brothers in-law, Robert Fisher and James Mace. Shirley is survived by daughters Kathie Cook of Winter Haven, Fl, and her husband Larry, Vicki Beal of Swanville, Maine and her husband, Thomas, Cynthia Rankin of Searsport, Maine and Jacqueline French of Orland, Maine; her sisters, Marion Fisher, Peg Mace, and Belinda Barton and her husband Jim; grandchildren Matthew Cook, Seth Beal, Thomas Beal, Christopher Beal, Jonathan Kinney, Alicia Kinney, and Michael Thibodeau; great grandchildren Logan Cook, Samantha Cook, Jennifer Beal, Kenneth Beal, Jacob Thibodeau, Connor Beal, Makenzi Daley, Brandon Gray, Taylor Kinney , Michael Thibodeau II and Leslee Thibodeau, as well as many nieces and nephews. As Shirley requested, there will be no funeral service or visitation. There will be a graveside service in the spring.