Passed on Sunday, 23 February 2020

The Rev. Ms. Shirley Herman Wilcox died on February 23, 2020.  She is survived by her husband, Rev. William E. Wilcox of Hingham, MA and daughter Carla Herman, MD of Albuquerque, NM; her four stepdaughters, Deborah Knapp of Ellicott City MD, Laura Wilcox of St Paul, MN, Cheryl Goldsmith of Owings Mills, MD, and Sandra Ahmed of Perry Hall, MD;  their families, and 4 nephews.  She was preceded in death by her brother Hugh Wehmeier.

Rev. Wilcox was born in Chicago Illinois to Dorothy and Hugo Wehmeier.  She graduated high school from the University of Chicago Laboratory School, completed her BA from the University of Indiana, and her Masters in Fine Arts at Northwestern University.  She returned to Chicago to receive her Masters in Divinity from the Chicago Theological Seminary.  Ordained in 1969, she worked as a Chaplin at University of Chicago Hospital with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross on the early research into death and dying. She completed her supervisory training in Clinical Pastoral Education in 1973 and went on to be a Full Supervisor with the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.  She worked as a Chaplin and supervised students in pastoral education in a number of Chicago area hospitals.  In 1988, she moved to the Boston area and retired as an ACPE Supervisor at Massachusetts General Hospital.  After her 1990 retirement, she was an active volunteer with Compassion and Choices.

Rev. Wilcox was cremated and her ashes will be buried in the Memorial Garden of the Church of Messiah located in Woods Hole, Cape Cod, MA.  Her family wishes to thank all the wonderful staff at the Memory Care Unit at Linden Ponds as well as the caring staff from Beacon Hospice.

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