Shirley Rae Garhart

Peterborough, NH Shirl died on August 3, 2017 at Concord Hospital after an acute illness. She was born on February 22, 1926 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Shirl graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in English and Webster University in St. Louis with a Masters in Teaching and Communication Arts. After graduating from college she worked as a stewardess for United Airlines based in Denver where she met her future husband, Manch Daniel Garhart. As newlyweds they lived in Salt Lake and Denver before relocating to St. Louis for his career. In St. Louis she was very active in the Episcopal Church singing in the choir and volunteering for the Guild and teaching swimming at the YMCA. She was a Girl Scout troop leader, organizer and neighborhood chairman. After her husband died suddenly in 1968, her life changed dramatically. She earned her Missouri teacher certification in 1969. She began her teaching career first as a substitute teacher at a variety of schools including a semester at the Good Shepherd School in Ferguson, MO followed by 3 years at a parochial school before teaching English at Normandy Junior High School in St. Louis County until her retirement in 1991. Shirl was very active in tennis leagues and AAUW before and even more so after retirement. She was honored with Missouri and national recognition for her leadership and projects mentoring at risk girls. A lifelong Democrat she became even more involved with politics after retirement. She ran for state legislature in Missouri and fought tirelessly for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which never occurred in Missouri. In 2003 she decided to move to New Hampshire to be closer to family in case of a medical emergency and settled in Peterborough where she volunteered with the Keene Chapter of AAUW and worked diligently to strengthen the local Democratic presence. She moved into the new Scott Farrar when the facility opened in October 2016. Just hours before her acute illness, she sent out her daily email of key editorials of the day and walked on the treadmill at Performance Fitness. Shirl is survived by her daughters, Christine Garhart of St. Louis and Sally Eneguess, her granddaughters Allison Havelda of Lexington, KY and Lindsay Paulette of Concord, VA, her son-in-law Sandy, her nephew John Vrabel of Park City, UT and her cat Chloe. She was 91 years old and enjoyed a full and varied life. There are no calling hours or services at Shirl's request however, she will be sponsoring a fundraiser for her favorite New Hampshire Congressional Representative, Annie Kuster in the near future so stay tuned.

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