Obituaries

Shirley went to be with her Lord on Friday, March 14, 2025, at the age of 88. While she is a native of Durham, NC, she has been a Peninsula resident since 1967. She was formerly employed with Coats & Clark and Mary Kay Cosmetics. Both jobs brought her significant joy and pride. She often reminisced about the wonderful employees and customers she met while working these jobs. She took pride in her organizational, management, and makeup skills, which made her very successful as a Mary Kay Team Lead and Consultant, where she was often invited to events and received many awards.

She was an active member of West Hampton Baptist Church, and she cherished the community she built there. Even when she was no longer able to attend physically, she made sure to keep up with the bulletin and pray for fellow members.

Shirley treasured her friends, and she always tried to keep in contact with them via phone calls, letters, and cards. She often displayed her cherished cards throughout her home, especially on birthdays and holidays.

In her prime, Shirley was known to be very fashionable, and she was even offered modeling jobs. She took pride in her beauty and always tried to look her best, even if she was enjoying a day of soap operas on the couch at home or just waiting on a QVC package. She was also a great dancer, and she loved going out on the weekends with her friends. When she could no longer go out dancing, she would still turn on her favorite Elvis songs and dance around the house. She loved gardening, especially keeping up with her abundance of roses. She found so much joy in the beauty she created with the variety of roses she had flourishing under her care. She would often be seen outside pruning, digging up, watering, and maintaining her beloved flowers, even when others offered to help. She, without a doubt, made the world a more beautiful place – with her flowers, job in Mary Kay cosmetics, showing off her fashion and dance moves and just being a light in the world to those who were lucky enough to know and love her.

Shirley loved her daughter, Michelle, immensely. They loved to talk about TV shows and music and made sure they were always up to date on what was happening. They always checked in with each other, and they talked almost daily. They were very similar in many ways, and a lot of Shirley will live on through Michelle.

The most important person in Shirley’s life was her Grandson, Trevor. These two have always had a very special bond that many would envy. Trevor was the sparkle of his Gram’s eye, and he could (mostly) do no wrong in her eyes. She would make him a special birthday cake and decorate the house for his birthday every year, and he always brought her special arrangements of flowers on Mother’s Day and her birthday. She would wait for him to come home after his motocross trips, motorcycle rides, golf outings, cornhole tournaments, and could not wait to hear about his great times. The best part of her day was seeing her boy. No one could do things like Trevor could – even things as simple as running to pick up something for dinner – Trevor always did it better than anyone else. Saying Gram and Trevor adored each other is an understatement. He cared for her daily and unwaveringly, especially in her final days. She always spoke of how lucky she was to have such a devoted grandson and how much she loved him.

She was also a huge animal lover. She loved her beloved black cat, Kitty, and often hand-fed her treats for dinner. Once, when creating her grocery list, she asked for 16 bags of cat treats. She was known to spoil her granddog, Rylee, and would make sure, she also never missed a meal. Shirley was often found slipping Rylee snacks. She would even set aside larger portions of her own meals to make sure Rylee had an adequate breakfast of sausage and eggs because she deserved more than just dog food. Any time there was food around, Rylee could always be found at her Gram’s side. Rylee kept Gram active, and the two always looked after each other.

She leaves to cherish her memories: her beloved daughter, Michelle Harris; her devoted grandson, Trevor Harris (and granddog, Rylee); adopted granddaughter, Lexi Park; her stepmother and best friend, Elsie Heatherly; her sister, Pamela Sparks (Phillip); her brother, Gary Heatherly (Joan); many nieces and nephews in the Durham, NC area, and friends from near and far.

She was preceded in death by her father, Mack Heatherly, and brother, Dennis Heatherly, her mother, Rachel Couch, and her husband, Marland Couch (PaPa).

The family will receive friends on Friday, March 21, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Peninsula Funeral Home. A funeral service will follow at 12:00 p.m., and interment will be held at Peninsula Memorial Park.

There will be a reception afterwards where all are encouraged to attend and share love and memories.

Memorials may be made to West Hampton Baptist Church, 631 Aberdeen Rd. Hampton, VA 23661.