Shirlee Gaines Edwards

Shirlee Gaines Edwards, 90, of Blowing Rock, NC, - avid reader, community organizer and advocate for children - died August 12, 2023.

Shirlee was born January 23, 1933, in Brockton Massachusetts, to Lee E. Hopkins and Vera J. Hopkins. The family subsequently moved to Sarasota, Florida, where Shirlee attended Sarasota High School and was on the tennis team, writer's club, and voted "Most Talented". She graduated in 1950 along with her first husband, Francis Bookhart Gaines, and went on to earn a BA in Early Childhood Education from the University of Florida in 1955.

In 1958, the family moved to Marrianna, Florida, where Shirlee operated a home-based kindergarten, taught art, and worked in the civil rights movement, and, in 1964, to Reidsville, North Carolina, where she worked at a sheltered workshop, led a campaign to build a new library, and won 1st place in the 1968 women's singles tennis tournament.

Shirlee moved to Boone in 1973 to work for the Office for Children. She then went on to work for Watauga DSS as a Social Worker for 17 years, while also obtaining an MA in Rehabilitative Sciences from ASU.

In 1977, Shirlee married Ben E. Edwards III (deceased). The couple worked together on many community, social justice, church, and blended family projects and activities. Shirlee was a founding member of the Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Networking and community organizing meetings often took place at the residence on Payne Branch Road and were always accompanied by great fun, conversation, food, and libations. In retirement, Shirlee continued her community volunteer work on behalf of children and under-resourced populations, as well as drawing wildflowers, gardening, and managing her grandkids, cats, and goats.

Shirlee is survived by her children Melissa Gaines Johnson, Sally Gaines Tidyman, and Gregory Gaines (Amy) of Boone; the granddaughter she raised, Allison Jenkins (Homer) of Ashville; her stepchildren Beth Brock (Morris) of Greensboro, Adrienne Edwards (Chris Ivey) of Chico, CA., Ben Edwards IV (Betsy) of Chapel Hill, Jon Edwards (Cheryl) of Chapel Hill, and Joel Edwards of Marrietta, GA, as well as 20 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren She is predeceased by her husband Ben Edwards III, her daughter Annalee Schulmeyer, her son-in-law Michael Schulmeyer, her grandson Travis Schulmeyer, her son-in-law Edward Johnson.

Memorial service will be held at 1 PM Saturday, August 26, at the Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 381 E. King Street, in Boone. Reception immediately following service.

To honor her life through charitable giving, please consider the Middlefork Greenway or the Children's Playhouse.