DANVERS: Shirley Mae (Peabody) Marshall, 90, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, at the Hunt Nursing Home in Danvers on September 6, 2009.
Born in Bradford, Mass. on March 29, 1919, she was the daughter of the late Walter Nathaniel “Nat” and Ethel (Pinkham) Peabody. Her family moved briefly to Essex and then settled in Gloucester. After graduation she married Alger C. Marshall, who predeceased her.
Shirley raised her family in Gloucester, working in local banks before joining the family business, “The Captain’s Table,” on the Essex Causeway. After the sale of the restaurant, Shirley spent over thirty years as hostess at the Village Restaurant at the opposite end of the Causeway. Thousands of patrons will remember her greeting them, forever with a smile. Shirley’s favorite pastime was traveling with a friend to virtually anywhere in New England to sample a new restaurant she had heard about. She was a 50-year member of Heard Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. After retirement she moved to Beverly, where she resided with her daughter Sandra until she became ill in 2007.
Shirley is survived by her six children: Sandra Marshall of Beverly, Dan and wife Joanne Marshall of Essex, Larry and wife Robin Marshall of Sylmar, California, Gene and wife Deborah Marshall of Gloucester, Don and wife Diana Marshall of Quincy, Cynthia Stewart of Boxborough and husband Brad Stewart of Gloucester; grandchildren Nathaniel, Jeffrey, Jason, Kamissa, Jacob, Gene Jr., and Corey Marshall, Amy Arruda, Alison Webber, Melissa Bowling, and Ja Ja Hurley; great-grandchildren Ashley Arruda, Caitlyn, Rachel, Renee, Rebecca, and Caiden Webber and Jackson Bowling; her niece Jean (Aubrey-Ramos) Madaloni and family, and her special friend, Judy Dow. She was also predeceased by her two sisters, Eleanor Bean and husband Donald, Doris Aubrey and husband Ernest, and her lifelong friends Mae Johnson and Nathalie Akers.
Her funeral service will be held on Wednesday morning in the Pike-Grondin Funeral Home, 61 Middle Street, Gloucester at 10 a.m. Visiting hours will be held on Tuesday from 5 – 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice. Interment will be held in the Bridge Street Cemetery, West Newbury.