James M. Shea ’57

Jim led a double life. He was a physician professionally and by avocation, a devotee of the arts. He pursued each with passion. He always wanted to be a doctor, said Lucille, his widow. Jim chose orthopedic surgery and had a practice in Manchester, N.H., his home. Jim did well, said Phil Sullivan, a classmate, friend, and fellow physician.  

At Princeton, Jim chose as his major art and archeology. The price was having to make up the science courses he missed while at Princeton at Harvard Medical School and then seek admission to McGill’s medical school, from which he graduated. Arthritis in his hands and lower back pain, which plagued him since age 16, required him to retire in 1999. Thereafter he fully indulged his other major passion. He andLucille frequently traveled by bus to Manhattan, where they visited museums and galleries and attended the opera.  

Jim had other interests, too. He raised bees, becoming known at state beekeeper conventions. He was a triathlete into his early 80s (one-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride, and 24-mile run). And he wrote poetry, published locally and once (four lines) in The New Yorker.  

He and Lucille met at the Catholic hospital where he performed his surgeries. They had one son, James Patrick. Jim died March 29, 2020, of pneumonia after a year of troubles.