Shirley Jean Wilt

Shirley Jean Wilt (Harris) died peacefully on February 14, 2026 at the age of 87.
Shirley was born on March 24, 1938. She graduated from Auburn High School in New York where she grew up with her parents Arthur and Grace Harris and her sister Peggy.

She loved science and transferred from Wellsley college to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957 for her junior year because she wanted to take harder science courses. She graduated from M.I.T. with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and married a fellow student, John Wilt. She joked that she picked him out from the 50 men she had to choose from, which was the male to female ratio at M.I.T. at the time. After spending their first year of marriage in Boston where she worked and became a Red Sox fan and Jack finished his degree, they both went to U.C.L.A for graduate studies where she earned a Masters of Science in Chemistry. When they relocated to upstate New York, She taught classes at Nazareth College for several years, which she considered inexpensive entertainment for herself, before she settled in to raising their five boys.

She and Jack married when they were young and when asked about it she said "We knew what we were doing" and cited more than 57 years of being happily married as proof. When faced with an empty nest she and Jack continued to be active in their church where they sang in the choir, did substitute teaching at local schools and volunteered at a soup kitchen providing food for the needy.

She was admired and loved by all who knew her for her sunny disposition and conversational skills. She would often make new friends out of complete strangers in random places and was always willing to speak up and tell people that she loved their outfit, their child was beautiful or they just looked great today. People who knew her sought out her company to get an uplift if they were having a bad day. She loved kids, football (Go Bruins), chocolate and reading. She always had a book with her in case things got boring. Later in life, when her hips started bothering her making it hard to walk, she would say “Don’t you wish we could get around like they did on Star Trek?” As a science fiction fan, this was her favorite TV show although she admitted a crush on Captain Kirk was at least part of why.

She is pre-deceased by her husband, John Robert, and her son, Paul Harris. She leaves behind her sister Margaret Ann, her sons Michael John, Timothy Robert, Karl David and Nicholas Patrick, her grandchildren Christopher Makoto, Carolyn Noriko, Celina Jin, Benjamin Harris, Samuel Taylor, Camille Statice-Elizabeth, Teleri Marie, Blaidd Robert, Wesley Arthur, Annabelle Rose and Eliana Grace, and her great-grandchildren Patrick Nobu and Marielle Noriko.

A memorial Service will be held later in the spring.

Please do not send flowers or gifts. If you would like to make a donation Shirley and Jack enjoyed supporting and volunteering at Hope of Rock Hill SC