Shirley Cantini couldn’t dip her toes in the ocean often enough.

“She just loved the beach,” said her daughter, Cindy Achtzehn of Madison. “We went to Myrtle Beach every year when I was younger. And we had a camping group that was my family, my brother-in-law and some good friends. We used to go Bethany Beach (in southern Delaware) and camped every year for as long as we could.”

Shirley A. Simonazzi Cantini of West Newton died Saturday, Jan. 25.. She was 85.

Mrs. Cantini was born May 23, 1934, in Sutersville, a daughter of the late Archibald and Ann (Lucovitz) Simonazzi. She was a 1953 graduate of the former West Newton High School.

Around the same time she graduated high school, Mrs. Cantini and a friend were walking down the street when a car drove past. Mrs. Cantini and her friend smiled and waved, and soon the car circled the block and came back.

“They started talking and that was how she and my dad hooked up,” Achtzehn said.

The couple was married Oct. 22, 1955.

Mrs. Cantini was a member of the Sewickley Township Grange Homemakers Club and a lunch group called the Birthday Club, whose members would meet once a month to eat and celebrate their respective birthdays. She was a Girl Scout leader for several years.

She was also a member of the former Sunshine Club at St. Edward Catholic Church in Herminie.

“It was a group of seniors who got together every month, with entertainment and dessert socials,” Achtzehn said. “Sometimes they’d play bingo or bring a speaker in. It was a great organization for seniors to connect with one another.”

In her spare time, Mrs. Cantini enjoyed arts and crafts. She enjoyed tole painting — the art of painting metal and wooden objects such as boxes or coffee pots — as well as candlewicking, a type of embroidery.

“She would do the craft-show circuit and set her table out to sell things,” Achtzehn said.

Mrs. Cantini cared deeply for everyone around her, but she also wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, according to her daughter.

“She’d speak out if she had something to say. She could take a joke and give it back as good as anyone,” Achtzehn said. “She was feisty.”

Mrs. Cantini is survived by her husband of 64 years, Robert P. Cantini of West Newton; a daughter, Cindy Achtzehn and husband Darren of Madison; two sons, Robert A. Cantini and wife Dorothy of Kennett Square, Pa., and Stephen P. Cantini of Harrisburg; one sister, Noreen Edwards and husband William of Coraopolis; and three grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Beatty-Rich Funeral Home, 106 Main St., Madison. An 11 a.m. funeral service will be at St. Edward Catholic Church, 120 St. Edward Lane, Herminie.

Interment will be private.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association, 444 Liberty Ave., Suite 1300, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

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