Shirley Maltby

Shirley Maltby, 77, of West Chester, PA, passed away on Sunday, August 17, 2025, at home, after succumbing to Alzheimer’s Disease.

Born March 15, 1948, in Waterloo, South London, England, she was the daughter of the late Louis Laibovitch and the late Phyllis Fry.

Shirley grew up in London and attended St. Saviour’s and St. Olave’s Grammar School for Girls. She left school at age 16 and worked as a secretary for five years. In 1969, at the age of 21, she went to Israel for a year, where she lived on a kibbutz before moving to Tel Aviv. On returning to England, she worked as an administrator at the London-based Race Relations Board. In 1976, she enrolled in the Polytechnic of Central London, from which she graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in social science. She subsequently trained and practiced as a marriage counselor with Relate, the British National Marriage Guidance Council.

In 1991, Shirley moved to the United States with her husband and daughters. In 1995, she completed a Master of Science degree in Counseling at West Chester University, Pennsylvania. She then obtained credentials as a National Certified Counselor, a Licensed Professional Counselor, and a professional member of the American Counseling Association.

She worked as an outpatient psychotherapist in community mental health centers and as a college counselor. She provided consultancy and counseling services for the Delaware Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She also worked with people attending the Multiple Sclerosis Assessment Clinic run by the Physical Therapy Department of the University of Delaware.

She enjoyed foreign travel and walking on nature trails. Her other pastimes included going to the movies and the theater and reading fiction. She was also keen on pop music from the 1960s to the 1990s and built up an impressive collection of CDs.

Shirley will be remembered by those who knew her for her gentle spirit and modesty, her kindness and generosity, her profound belief in social justice, her intelligence and lively wit, and above all, her love of family and friends. She valued her role as a mother and often said that early motherhood was the happiest time of her life. And as a wife she showed herself to be unstinting in her support of all husband Paul’s endeavors and, irrespective of his moods, always loving and affectionate.

She was by nature stoical, rarely complaining about the challenges she suffered first from multiple sclerosis, with which she was diagnosed at the age of 53, and then from Alzheimer’s, with which she was diagnosed at the age of 69.

Shirley is survived by Paul Maltby, her husband of 44 years, her daughters Zoe Kasper and Lauren Maltby, her granddaughters Lucy, Remi and Mollie Kasper, her stepsisters Elaine Fry and Jeanette Hugh-Jones, sister-in-law Christine Lawson and son-in-law Ross Kasper.

She was preceded in death by her brother Stuart Lawson.

Relatives and friends are invited to her visitation on Friday, August 22, 2025, from 10:00 am -10:45 am at DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc., 410 North Church Street, West Chester, PA 19380, followed by her funeral service at 11:00 am.

Interment will be in Oaklands Cemetery, West Chester, PA.

Both interment and service will be private.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association. 

Arrangements by DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc. of West Chester, Pa. 610-696-1181. www.DellaFH.com