Lu Shurkus

1928 - 2017

YORK BEACH - Whether on Short Sands in York Beach, Maine or out living a full and enriched life, Lu Shurkus liked to make a splash! She was an amazing party thrower and an eager party goer. She loved her life and all the people in it. She awoke every day hoping to embark on a new adventure, make a new friend, buy a new Chico's jacket or gather with old friends to create new memories. She lived well, but more importantly, she did good. On Wednesday, July 12, 2017, surrounded by her family, Lu made her way on her final adventure.

Lu was born in Nashua, N.H., on July 13, 1928, the daughter of the late Robert and Celedase (DesRocher) Cote. She graduated from Saint Aloysius High School in 1946 and later from Notre Dame School of Nursing in Manchester, N.H. In 1985, she received her bachelor's degree in sociology from Rivier University in Nashua, N.H.

The majority of Lu's nursing career was spent at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where she worked for 50 years. Most of her time there was spent as a Clinical Educator in the Operating Room. She was proud of her career and all that she accomplished, including serving as the president of the Boston Chapter of the Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN) for several years.

Lu raised her family in Burlington, Mass., but her heart was always in York Beach, where she and her family spent every summer. In 1990, Lu moved to York to be closer to her daughter, her grandchildren, and the beach! She loved her house up on the Nubble, loved her view and loved to the see the Isles of Shoals from her pillow.

When not sitting with friends and family on Short Sands Beach (in the same spot for 50 years), she could be found volunteering for the York Food Pantry, Hospice, York Hospital, the Portsmouth Music Hall, the Historical Society Showcase House and countless other places. When she wasn't at the beach, volunteering, doing yoga or going on Red Hat adventures, she was traveling. She loved visiting friends and family around the country, including her yearly trips to Naples, Fla. However, her travels to Europe were her most memorable. Although her life was full and her schedule busy, she still found time to be an amazing Mimi to her two granddaughters.

In addition to her parents, Lu was predeceased by her husbands, Richard Madden and Albert Shurkus; three brothers, Maurice Cote, Richard Cote and Paul Cote; and three sisters, Isadora Cote, Monique Grondine and Rita Cote.

Surviving members of her family include her daughter Marcia (Madden) Taylor and her husband Scott of York; two grandchildren, Morgan Taylor and Niki Taylor, who lit up her world; two sisters, Jeanne Kennedy and her husband Thomas of Manchester and Lee Dublow of Louisville, Kentucky, a brother Robert Cote and his wife Cessa of Pittsfield, Mass.; her amazing god-daughter Karen Kennedy of Goffstown, N.H.; four sisters-in-laws, Marianne Cote of Long Island, N.Y., Betty Cote of York, Maine, Judy Buckley of Pawcatuck, Conn., and Ann Gilland and her husband Dave of Plantsville, Conn., and dozens of nieces, nephews and cousins.

A Memorial Mass was celebrated Monday, July 17 at St. Christopher's Church, 4 Barrell Lane, York. Online condolences may be made by visiting www.jspelkeyfuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations may be made in Lu's memory to York Community Food Pantry, 38 Woodbridge Road, York, ME; or to Rivier University, Albert J. Shurkus Scholarship, 420 Main St., Nashua, NH, 03060. Care for the Shurkus family has been entrusted to the JS Pelkey Funeral Home.