Shirlee Etta Ball Smith, age 89, of Drewsville, left for Heaven peacefully on December 10, 2022. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Agnes Ball, sister, Faith Ball Kathan, and half-sisters, Leitha Sprout, Dorothy Hopkins, Pearl Lescord, Olive Patterson and Ruby Lescord. She is survived by her son, Mark (Karen), daughter, Bonnie, grandchildren, Peter (Jen) and Becky Smith, and great-grandson, Corvin Dayton Smith Love. 

Shirlee graduated from Walpole High School in 1951. Her yearbook quote was “I dare to do all that may become a woman.” She then attended and graduated from the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Hanover, NH. While working her first nursing job at the hospital one of her patients was a young Dartmouth man from Barrington, IL who broke his leg skiing, Dayton Smith Jr. They married in 1953. While his career with Reynolds Aluminum took them on several moves, they settled in Deephaven, MN where they raised their two children. 

Shirlee returned to Alstead, NH, in 1970, where she resumed her nursing career at Keene Hospital and later at Bellows Falls Hospital. In 1980, she moved to Woodstock, VT where she was an interior designer, painter, and wallpaper hanger eventually opening her first antique shop “Ye Red Robin Antiques.” 

She eventually moved back to Drewsville, to her family home, where she spent the rest of her life converting her father’s small antique shop into her “retirement cottage.” Her love of gardening and antiques made it a very special place indeed, including her beloved “Monet garden” and her daffodils that were regular winners at shows in Dublin. She continued as an antique dealer and was a para-educator in the Vilas School system with the Chapter I program. She spent many summers as a re-enactor at Old Fort No. 4 in Charlestown, NH. She was an active member and Lay Eucharistic Minister at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Bellows Falls, VT for many years. In later, life she was interested in studying with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 

An avid reader with an inquisitive mind she was always in search of strengthening her faith. Shirlee was a quiet and gentle soul who loved nature and all things natural. She was an “ageless hippie,” active in the beginnings of her local co-op in MN, yet we always joked that she was born in the wrong century as she loved all things antique and simpler times.  

Fenton and Hennessey Funeral Home, 55 Westminster Street, Bellows Falls, VT has been entrusted with arrangements.

One hour of visitation will take place on Tuesday, May 16 from 1:00 -2:00 PM at the Funeral Home with a Memorial Service starting at 2:00 PM.

Burial will follow and be private.