Shirley Anne McSorley Fenner passed away at the age of 91 on Aug. 16, 2025, at her horse farm in Brownsville. She was born on April 13, 1934, in Arlington, Mass., the daughter of Wesley Allen McSorley, Jr. and Barbara (Cushman) McSorley. After high school, Shirley went on to graduate from Vermont College. It was at VC where she met her future husband Robert (Bob) Fenner who was attending college at nearby Norwich University. After graduating from college in 1954, they married on Dec. 30 and resided at Fort Knox, Ky. where Lieutenant Bob Fenner was stationed with the U.S. Army. Bob was soon deployed to Munich, Germany, where they lived for a year and a half and had their first child, Jeffery. They left Germany after Bob completed his obligations to the Army and moved to Cranford, N.J., where Shirley focused on raising Jeff and their second son, Dana.
In 1963 Shirley and family moved to Killington, as Bob began working for the Sherburne Corporation and Shirley worked for several local inns and for Southworth’s ski shop as soft goods manager. During this time, she ran a B&B before those were even popular and retained her entrepreneurial spirit when they moved into an 1840s farmhouse in South Woodstock where she hosted many a horse and rider and ran her tack shop, Gambol Hill as well as working at the Woodstock Inn gift shop. They later moved to Brownsville, where she raised Connemara horses. In later years, Shirley and Bob spent part of their time in Wellington, Fla. and at their home in St. John, U.S.V.I. Shirley enjoyed golf, skiing, sailing and was an avid gardener and member of the Wellington and Woodstock Garden Clubs. She also was a frequent volunteer at the Woodstock Historical Society and was a member of the St. James Episcopal Church in Woodstock. Shirley was also a loving mother to many a four-legged furry friend: Josh the Boxer, four golden retrievers, four English Welch Corgis, Angel the donkey, several Connemara ponies and one two-legged Goose named Gus.
Shirley was pre-deceased by her husband of 60 years, Bob and her two brothers Robert Allen McSorley and Richard Cushman McSorley. She is survived by her two sons, Jeffery Thomas Fenner and his wife Jackie (Ditcheos) Fenner, Dana Cushman Fenner and his wife Kristi (Collier) Fenner; her five grandchildren Warren Fenner and his wife Heather (Flavell) Fenner, Catherine (Fenner) Johnson and her husband, Bryan, Emalee (Fenner) Whipple and her husband Taylor; Robert (Will) Fenner, Matthew Fenner and her seven great grandchildren Oliver Whipple, Rhys Fenner, Arlo Whipple, Cooper Johnson, Aidan Fenner, Nolan Whipple and Quinn Johnson as well as her newest furry family member, Buttons the Corgi.
Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us everyday unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed and very dear.
A memorial service will be held at Mission Farm Church in Killington on Saturday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m. followed by a reception at Summit Lodge. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA) by phone 802-457-1509, online at gmhainc.org, or by mail PO Box 8, South Woodstock, VT 05701 (please indicate “in memory of Shirley Fenner” in the memo).
An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.
