My Obit-Ha

A young woman making waves wherever she went, Chelsey Shuman left her mark in a variety of ways from her volunteering efforts to her notion that a good hug was a necessary part of everyone's day.
Nichole Souther, her life long best friend from high school, fondly remembers Chelsey's spirit and passion for life.
"In high school we used to have this joke that we always knew where Chels was because her laugh literally radiated through the halls. It was this loud obnoxious cackle that everyone grew to love."
As a sponsor counselor for eating disorders to fifty-three men and women Chelsey carried that spirit into her work hoping to give everyone she came into contact with a silver lining regardless of where they were coming from.
In her leather bound series of journals found she writes, "You know that feeling when you win a prize? That's exactly how I feel every time I can make someone smile. The best prize in the world!"
Andrea Waldman, cousin and closest friend, tightly grips a picture of the two of them bikini clad and laughing on the beach and fights back alligator sized tears.
"She was that girl that was there for everyone and anyone. Sometimes I think that allowed people to take advantage of her but she never seemed to care."
"'You can only control your own actions, the rest is up to fate'. That's what she used to tell me when I was down" says her younger sister Anna McCloskey, "A huge heart and an even bigger smile".
Chelsey graduated from the University of New Hampshire with her bachelors in English/Journalism and went on to get her Masters in English Teaching from Emerson.
Her passion for writing was evident from the beginning as soon as she could read and write according to her grandmother Rubylee Shuman.
"I remember I found her one day in her room surrounded by a sea of paper and not an inch was uncovered. When I asked her what she was doing she looked up and smiled saying she was writing the most beautiful story for me."
The passion for teaching came later but proved to be a turning point in her life, allowing her to bring the same joys she found in literature to students and only further spread her love of life.
"My daughter had so many gifts and all she ever wanted to do was share them. An amazing writer, teacher and person she will forever be missed and remembered" says her mother Karen McCloskey.