Obituary of Shirley Webster

Shirley (Easley) Webster, 94 of Duxbury MA formerly of East Dennis, MA, and Mount Kisco, NY passed away on Saturday December 6, 2008. Wife of the late Howard Webster, mother of Pamela Walsh and her husband Fred of Duxbury, Laura Moore and her husband Andrew of Campbell, CA, and Madeline Webster and her husband Laurence Raffel of Arlington, MA. grandmother of Kailey Walsh of Florham Park, NJ, Chase Walsh, Sasha Taylor, and Caitlin Phelps of Campbell, CA. She and her husband retired to East Dennis, MA from Mount Kisco, NY in 1974 and enjoyed 24 years there. She was active in the Dennis Union Congregational Church and pursued her interests in French, Shakespeare, poetry, and astronomy as an active member of local groups and with friends. She loved to cook, garden, read, travel, and enjoyed the beaches and nature trails of Cape Cod. Wherever she went from childhood to her death she met new people and engaged them as friends. She kept in touch by phone and voluminous two way correspondence with a network of relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and other friends of all ages. She was a graduate of Columbia University and NYU, worked as a dental hygienist for many years for a Wall St dentist, and ran the dental health program in the Bedford Central Schools in Bedford, NY from 1954 until her retirement in 1973. Her advocacy included water fluoridation, mouth guards for football players, and apple machines in the high school. She worked with the Salvation Army, and made sure that needy families received dental care. She was known as the "tooth lady" because she travelled with Tony the giant (a huge set of teeth and toothbrush) into the K- 6 classrooms of 6 elementary schools to teach students good dental hygiene. She was involved in the process of school centralization which resulted in the Bedford Central Regional High School, Fox Lane. She was also active in the Mount Kisco Methodist Church. For the last 10 years she lived with her daughter Pamela Walsh and family in Duxbury, MA. Burial will be in the Kensico Cemetary, Valhalla NY. A memorial service will be held at a future date. Donations may be made in her name to the Cranberry Hospice, 36 Cordage Park Cir # 326, Plymouth, MA 02360, (508) 746-0215.