Shirley Turner

Shirley, who has died aged 74, ran Abbey Pharmacy for some 20 years, retiring when she was in her mid-60s.

Born in Leeds, the daughter of Robert Peel and his wife Laura, she barely saw her father during her early years because of the war.

After he had been demobbed, the family moved to Sutton on the Forest near York.

She won a place at Easingwold Grammar School, getting a job when she left at Boots in York.

Shirley loved music, had a good voice and turned down an opportunity to sing for a summer season at Scarborough to pursue her pharmacy training.

She studied at what was later to become the University of Bradford, qualifying as a pharmacist in 1957 .

Promotion at Boots led to her being made a relief manager for Boots, travelling all over North Yorkshire to step in where needed.

She was engaged, but broke it off after her fianc rolled his car, as she decided he was too irresponsible.

However, while on holiday with friends in Scotland she went to a dance at the Kinloss base and there she met Michael Turner, a serving RAF officer.

They were married in May 1961 and Michael was immediately posted to Malta where they were able to enjoy a two-year extended honeymoon.

Following their return to the UK in 1963, Michael was posted to a series of stations and they lived at times in Plymouth, Henley and Reading.

With Michael being required to move every two years, it was not easy for Shirley to find work, despite her qualifications, but while the family were at Henley, she worked for a time as a community pharmacist and then at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

On Michael's posting to Harrogate in 1979, she decided that the family had moved enough and it was here that they made their permanent home.

Shirley got a job with Alan Marks, who ran a chain of community pharmacies in the local area, including one in Knaresborough. Deciding to sell up and live in Israel, he offered to sell her the Knaresborough business at a discount if she would also agree to help set up a vegetarian restaurant in Harrogate.

The restaurant, however, did not last long and Shirley was then able to focus full-time on her community pharmacy which she renamed Abbey Pharmacy.

Shirley was a working wife and mother at a time when this was by no means the norm, running her business, her home and looking after Michael when he became ill and until his death in 1989.

Buzzing with energy and never able to be still for long Shirley Turner was a strong, independent woman whose laughter was legendary.

Following her retirement, she kept herself busy planning and managing one home improvement project after another, and at other times baking and producing great quantities of marmalade as well as pickles, singing as she worked.

After she was diagnosed as being terminally ill, only days before she died, she was disappointed that there were so many things that she still wanted to do, but at the end her concern was for others; that she had left so much for her family sort out.

She is survived by her sons Mark and Paul, four grandchildren and her brother Howard.