Shirley E. Charles ... longtime nurse, caregiver

ROCHESTER - Shirley E. Charles, 87, of Rochester, N.H. died peacefully Sunday night, June 14, 2015, at Riverside Rest Home, after a lengthy battle with illness.
She was born Shirley Eileen Sillars in Salem, Mass. on January 17, 1928, one of the four children born to Theodore and Helen Sillars. The family moved from Salem to Middleton, Mass., where Shirley graduated from Danvers High School in 1947. Following high school, Shirley attended and graduated from the Beverly Hospital School of Nursing in 1950. Along the way, she met and married Lester "Let" Charles, her loving husband and devoted partner for the ensuing 64 years.
Shirley and Let resided in Hamilton, Mass., where they raised six children. In 1982, the family moved to Rochester, N.H., where she and Let have shared their lives ever since.
Shirley's kind, caring nature led her into nursing and made her a favorite caregiver for sick children and grandchildren in need of attentive care and well-timed Jell-O (baths were less popular). A willing and vigorous practitioner of dialogue and debate, words were never in short supply for Shirley. Those unaware of this, and of her determination to make her point known and claim the last word that was rightfully hers, could unknowingly raise either her "dander" or her "Irish" - mistakes generally not repeated. Shirley also invented the charcoal diet.
Shirley is survived by her husband: Let, and the couple's six children: Carol A. Axelrod and husband Richard of Viera, Fla.; Christine E. Saunders of Danvers, Mass.; Lee M. Murphy and husband Barry of Farmington, N.H.; Lorraine C. Hill and husband Arthur of Medical Lake, Wash.; Joyce E-M. Geminder and husband David of Gorham, N.H.; and LCDR Todd W. Charles and wife Denise of Aiea, Hawaii. She was also the proud grandmother of 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.