Shirley Alice Rowley

Shirley Alice (Collins) Rowley, 86, passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family at Maine Medical Center on June 23, 2014. She was born in Medford, MA on June 5, 1928 and was the daughter of the late William Eastwood Collins and Alice Mercer (Robinson) and her second Mother, Anne Constance (Nasukaitis) Collins. She grew up in Worcester, MA, graduated from Bancroft High School in 1946, and received her Bachelor of Music Degree with a major in organ from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. She received her Master of Arts Degree in Church Music from Boston University in 1952.

Shirley served as Organist and Choir Director at the Chestnut Street Congregational Church in Worcester, MA and was the Minister of Music at the Union Congregation Church in West Palm Beach, Florida.

She married the late Stewart Kimmel Rowley on October 11, 1958 in West Palm Beach, FL. After Stewart’s ordination as a United Church of Christ Minister in 1959, Shirley served as an Organist and Director of Music where Stewart served as Minister in Fair Haven, Vermont, Springfield, Vermont and Ellsworth, Maine.

After Stewart’s retirement, they returned to Worcester, MA in 1988 and lived at 61 Monterey Road, where Shirley grew up. While in Worcester, she served as Organist at First Congregational Church (UCC) in Holden, MA for two years and as Organist and Director of Music at the Evangelical Congregational Church in Grafton, MA for five years. She has been a teacher of piano for over fifty years and she and her husband both officially retired and moved to Westbrook, Maine in 1998. They then moved to Falmouth, Maine in 2005.

She is survived her daughters Dr. Constance Anne Rowley-Colombo, husband Daniel T. Colombo and son, Nathan of White Lake, Michigan and Carol Sue (Rowley) Kloth, husband David P. Kloth and daughter Kristen N. Kloth of Falmouth and a sister in-law Hazel E. Rowley of Falmouth.

Shirley had four brothers that predeceased her, Clyde R.E. Collins, John F. Collins, Charles L. Collins and William E. Collins, Jr. along with several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend visitation from 2:00 PM to 4:00PM on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at the Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St., Portland. A memorial service will be held on Monday, June 30, 2014 at 4:00 PM at the Falmouth Congregational Church, 267 Falmouth Rd, Falmouth with a burial to follow at Blanchard Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Shirley’s memory to the Falmouth Food Pantry, 271 Falmouth Road, Falmouth, ME 04105.