Phoebe Ellen Shea passed away peacefully on December 4 in Rochester at the age of 93 (just shy of her 94th birthday).

She was predeceased by her husband, John W. "Jack" Shea, and by her brothers Charles and Sam. (Jack passed away ten years before her, almost to the day.) She is survived by her daughter Nancy, her sons Scott, Randall, Jerry, and John, and her sister Martha. She also leaves behind six grandchildren (Riley, Emily, Kristi, Phoebe, Aida, and Rolandito) and two great-grandchildren (Elena and Evan). She was particularly close with her daughter, who was the only one of her children still living locally during the last fifteen years of her life, and who visited her nearly every day.

Phoebe was born to Samuel and Ruth in Warren, Indiana, in 1927. She was their youngest child. Her mother passed away when Phoebe was one year old, after which she was raised by her maternal grandmother. Upon her grandmother's passing, she was raised by her father and new stepmother, Ethel.

After graduating from Warren High School in 1944 at age 16 (having skipped two grades), Phoebe attended Indiana University in Bloomington. She graduated from IU's Kelley School of Business in 1948 with a B.S. in Business (majoring in marketing).

Upon graduating from college, she worked in Chicago for two years, first for a meat packing company and then for a supplier of surgical goods. She had fond memories of riding the "L" (elevated train) to work every day.

In 1950, Phoebe accepted a job offer from Eastman Kodak and moved to Rochester. This allowed her to be near her brother Charles and two of her aunts, all of whom had previously relocated to Rochester from Indiana.

It was at Kodak that she met her husband Jack (a Rochester native). They shared an elevator ride together. Jack, smitten by the brown-eyed beauty, pretended to be getting off at the same floor as her, so he could follow and see in which office she worked.

Phoebe and Jack married at Holy Rosary Church on July 5, 1952. Phoebe converted to Jack's religion, Catholicism, after having been raised as a Quaker, although she became a Protestant in the 1980s. Her change of faith to Catholicism caused a rift with much of her family, and only a few family members attended her wedding. Within a few years, however, the rift was healed, and her family embraced Jack wholeheartedly.

Upon getting married, she left Kodak and devoted her energies to raising a family. (Jack continued working for Kodak until he retired in the early 1980s.)

Immediately after the wedding, Phoebe and Jack moved into their home at 237 Rye Road in Greece, where they lived for nearly fifty years. It was a perfect place to raise children, with many wonderful neighbors. On the large (0.75 acre) property, which backed onto woods, they provided their children with a skating rink, a basketball court, a badminton court, and a swimming pool.

Phoebe and Jack became "snowbirds" in the 1990's, spending their winters in Leesburg, Florida, near their son John. At that time, John was married and raising three step children. Phoebe and Jack enthusiastically embraced their new roles as devoted step-grandparents.

In 2002, Phoebe and Jack left their home on Rye Road and moved into the Atria senior living center in Greece. They both eventually relocated to Monroe Community Hospital nursing home, where they resided until passing.

Phoebe's passions in life included coffee, playing piano and bridge, swimming, seeing movies, doing crossword puzzles, and reading. She was a voracious reader right up to the end of her life. In her youth, she enjoyed dancing the jitterbug and playing cello. With her children, she enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles, playing double solitaire, and going on picnics and other family outings. She had a lovely singing voice and delighted her family by singing around the house, but she never sang in formal settings. While living at MCH, she enjoyed attending their regular concerts, and one of her sons performed private recitals for her numerous times there.

The name Phoebe derives from Phoebus, who was a Greek and Roman sun god. It is fitting that she should be so named, because of her sunny disposition. She had an inspiring gift for living life to its fullest and appreciating all the world has to offer.

In her earlier years, Phoebe went by the nickname "Peggy." Her husband's special name for her was "Brown Eyes." Her children came up with a number of humorous nicknames for her derived from her given name, such as "Phoebuloniousina." One of her granddaughters was named after her, and her daughter had a cat named Phoebe; to keep them straight, we designated them "Phoebus Minimus" (the cat), "Phoebus Medius" (the granddaughter), and "Phoebus Maximus."

Phoebe loved the wonderful clinical staff at Monroe Community Hospital, and the family is very grateful to those folks for their support and nurturing care of Phoebe-especially Cheryl Nolan, her nurse practitioner.

The funeral service will be held at Bartolomeo & Perotto Funeral Home (1411 Vintage Lane, in Greece) at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, December 22. Viewing hours will be 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 21. The family will host a catered luncheon and celebration of Phoebe's life at the Brook House restaurant (920 Elmridge Center Drive, Greece) on December 22, 12:00-2:00 p.m.