Shirley Ann Clarie Harris (6 Jan 1943 - 24 Dec 2018)

In loving memory of Shirley Ann Clarie Harris who sadly passed away on 24th December 2018

Shirley Ann Clarie Harris was born on the 6th January 1943.
A beloved wife to David, Mother to Kevin and Glenn and Mother in-law to Nicola and Wendy.
A sister to Pauline, Sandra, Linda, Anthony and the late Sheila and George.
One of seven to Mother and Father Elsie and George Dennis.

Shirley was born in Princess Street, Burton-on-Trent, where she grew up with her parents and sisters and brothers.

Her school years were at Victoria Street Infants, Grange Street Juniors and Goodman Street All Girls Seniors. She attended Sunday School at St Margaret’s where along with her sisters she looked forward to the yearly treat at Drayton Manor Park. She was also confirmed at the Town Mission Hall in Princess Street.

At home she was often left in charge of the “little ‘uns“ to help her mother. As her mother Elsie, was a seamstress, she taught Shirley to sew, which she put to good use when she made her younger sister Sandra’s skirt for the “big school”.

When she started work, she saved up and bought her own bike, so she could get to work easier.

Her main job was a quality control inspector at Eatough’s shoes of Bargates, Burton on Trent. Where she met her first husband, Brian, which as she would say “didn’t work out except for her sons”. They lived in Harrow Drive, Burton where she became good friends with neighbours Barbara and Eunice, of which she worked briefly in her shop.

Shirley met David through friends’ recommendations when he worked at Lloyd’s foundry and Shirley also cleaned there. It was Shirley’s striking red coat which caught David’s eye, they liked to meet with friends at Top Rank bingo.

Shirley and Dave moved to Barton-under-Needwood in 1976 where they made the bungalow their home with her special touch of quality furniture, features and ornaments. She loved to have only nice things around her. They continued to live there and shared many happy years together.

They treasured the couple of family holidays they had, especially the one in Brean with the family and her parents where the trusty Mark 3 Cortina had all the family members, the luggage and food squeezed in every available space.

She was always dressed very smart and would never leave the house in anything less than her Sunday best and would always get remarks from anyone she met of how nice she looked and asked where she bought them from. Shirley disliked the look of people wearing jeans and wouldn’t entertain buying or wearing a pair, neither would David.

Liked shopping for her upmarket style wardrobe and accessories when she could, which became more internet based when she couldn’t get out as much as she would have liked. This meant learning to use the iPad best she could even though she convinced herself she couldn’t.

Shirley took pride in keeping the house clean and tidy along with the garden which the boys helped with where necessary. She loved her plants, flowers and garden decorations. Looking around garden centres for new plants was a great excuse for getting out of the house but these had to be easy to maintain in the later years.

She loved to go out for meals when she could. One of her interests was making cakes and baking, her meringue Malteser cake being one of her specialty’s. Another hobby was to continue her love of dressmaking, cross stitch and embroidery when possible.

Probably her greatest and fondest hobby was to make her hand made greetings cards which she was very good at and very proud of. She spent countless hours creating her masterpieces. The lads always knew where to get a last-minute card from.

Shirley was extremely proud of her two sons who she was always thinking about and was always interested in what they were doing next. She looked forward to receiving emailed photos of the latest project or holiday photos. She thought of them as her own Prince Harry and William, can you guess which one is which? Although she didn’t like Glenn’s beard which she was always telling him to shave off.

However much she loved David, she would have to keep telling him off and giving him ‘the look’ for his silly jokes and comments which she thought made him look daft, even though he was the cleverest person she knew. They loved each other immensely, were great together and complimented each other.

She always looked forward to visits from family and friends for a catch up and waited to see what Kevin and Nicola and Glenn and Wendy were doing day to day.

She and David appreciated all the help that Sandra and Colin, Linda and close friend Jane did with all her hospital appointments, which she would have struggled to attend otherwise. She cherished what Jane did and continues to do for them both.

There are lots of other sides to her great loving and caring personality that I can’t mention all of them here but I’m sure you will all know them or have your own personal memories and thoughts about her.
All that’s left to say is that she was loved tremendously and will be greatly missed by all that met her along the way of her life.
Good night and god bless Shirley.