Shirley-Jean Hassett

Shirley-Jean Hassett, formerly of Spencer, Massachusetts passed away peacefully at The Service League of Greenville Hospice House in Greenville, North Carolina on December 14, 2024 after a brief illness at the age of 72.

She is preceded in death by her parents Edward Hassett and Louise Sacco Hassett and is dearly missed by her brothers Paul and James and her daughter Andrea Johnson, her husband Christopher Fuchs Jr, her two grandchildren, Max and Gemma and her former stepdaughter Melissa Pelkey and her husband Shaun as well as many cousins, former colleagues and friends.

Shirley was born in Auburn Massachusetts on May 12, 1952, the second child of Edward and Louise Hassett. She attended Notre Dame Academy then earned a BS in Biology from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1974. Her only child, Andrea Louise Johnson was born to her and her ex-husband Philip in 1986.

Shirley worked for nearly twenty years for the biology department at Worcester State College as a lab instructor, lecturer and planner/organizer in chief. She received her Masters of Science in Biology from Worcester State College after many summer and fall days of dragging her daughter into the woods to look at lichens. Shirley was a proud member of the Beta Beta Beta biology honor society. In 2003 she received the Manuel Carballo award from then Governor Mitt Romney for Excellence in Public Service for her work in ordering and purchasing for the department’s move to Ghosh Science and Technology Center. Shirley loved visiting Vermont every fall with her best friend Patti, cows, cribbage, her cat My Thai and hunting for antiques. She was whip smart and full of what she called “useless bits of information”, Shirley could do a New York Times Sunday crossword to completion and always talked about wanting to go on Jeopardy and meet Alex Trebek.

Between 1989 and 1991 she underwent 5 neurosurgeries at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for a ruptured aneurysm, sub-glial abscess and MRSA infection. To recover physical function she took up tap dancing and performed in dance recitals with her classmates. In 2016 she received the gift of life in the form of a double lung transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital. The transplant gave her 8 more years with her family and allowed her to be there for her daughter’s wedding in 2017 and to get to meet her grandchildren in 2021 and 2023. Shirley was an incredible grandmother to Max and Gemma and lived with them after moving to North Carolina in 2023.

A period of calling hours will be held Saturday, September 27th from 12 noon to 2 pm followed by a prayer service in the Mercadante Funeral Home & Chapel, 370 Planytation St. Her burial was held privately in Hillside Cemetery in Auburn. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to New England Donor Services at neds.org or register to become an organ donor.