Clara Shuffleburg, Tissie to all who knew her, 97 years young, passed away peacefully at her home Sunday, June 12, 2022, with her loving family at her side.
Tissie was born May 1, 1925, in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Charles W. and Mary McIsaac Tufts Sr. Her youth was spent in Lynn, where she attended Catholic schools and Lynn High School. Just after graduating, she moved to Wells, where she met the love of her life, Donald Shuffleburg. Following his return from Europe serving in the US Army, they married and settled in Kennebunk. They built their home on Cat Mousam Road and that is where they stayed, happily ever after.
Tissie was always a hard worker, beginning her employment with the former Kesslen Shoe Shop as an assembler. She was known for helping her coworkers by assembling more than her daily quota and sharing the extra with her coworkers so they could all succeed. Upon the plant’s closing, she began working with Bowdoin’s Pharmacy as a salesclerk, working the lunch counter and helping Warren Bowdoin in the pharmacy. After the business was sold, she continued with Brooks and eventually Rite-Aide pharmacy, retiring when she turned 89 years old, with 50 years of accumulated work with the three businesses. She never called out sick and was never late, and you could often hear her over the loudspeaker singing Happy Birthday if she knew it was your birthday and you were in the store!
Family was the most important thing for Tissie, she made a firm but loving home for her own family and anyone that showed up at her door. Most children through the years came to call her Nan, and she loved every minute of the hubbub that took place in her home. She called her house “The Do Drop In.” She wouldn’t have it any other way.
She was predeceased by the love of her life, Donald Shuffleburg and her son Scott Shuffleburg.
Survivors include her daughter Dawn Beaucage, and companion Peter Buchanan, grandchildren Heath and Scott W. Shuffleburg, Brooke Beaucage-Ghans and spouse Peter Ghans, Derek Beaucage, Courtney Beaucage; her four great-grandchildren, Michaela and Victoria Shuffleburg, Jacob and Brandon Ghans, her siblings, Dorothy “Dottie” Reynolds, Charles “Junior” Tufts, Paul Tufts, and spouse Pat, and her many nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours will be held 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer St., Kennebunk. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 11 a.m. Wednesday at Holy Spirit Parish, St. Martha’s Church, 30 Portland Road, Kennebunk. Burial will follow in Hope Cemetery, Kennebunk.
Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be made to the Iris Network, 198 Park Ave., Portland, ME 04102, in Tissie’s memory.
To share a memory or leave a message of condolence, please visit Tissie’s Book of Memories Page at www.bibberfuneral.com.
Arrangements are in care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer St., Kennebunk, ME 04043.
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