Shirley Raum Obituary

Shirley Amanda Pafford Mulhall Raum December 26, 1937- May 4, 2024

KINGSPORT - Shirley Amanda Pafford Mulhall Raum passed away May 4, 2024, at Brookdale Senior Living in Kingsport.

She was born December 26, 1937, in Atkins, Virginia, the third of twelve children born to Josephine and Marvin (M.C.) Pafford, Sr.

She grew up in the Lynn Garden community and graduated from Lynn View High School. Shirley left Kingsport shortly after graduation to begin a long and distinguished career with the federal government - first with the Department of Defense and later with the Health Care Financing Administration. She also co-owned and helped manage a small business in Catonsville, Maryland, with her first husband, John Mulhall, Jr., who died in 1982. She married Ronald (Ron) Raum in 1989 and together they retired to Florida, traveled around the world, and later returned to live in the Kingsport area.

In addition to her parents and first husband, she was preceded in death by two daughters, Susan Dawn Mulhall and Mari Lynn Mulhall Zell; granddaughters Cheyenne Amanda Taylor and April Lynn Zell; sister Geraldine Pafford Dickey, and brothers Marvin Pafford, Jr. and Ronald Pafford.

She is survived by her husband, Ron, her son, John Phillip Mulhall III and his wife, Kate; grandson John Phillip IV (Jack), grandsons Emory and Tyler Zell, Ryan Wall, and Jesse Taylor; great-granddaughters Scarlet Zell and Edie Wall; step-daughters Rachel Raum and Kathy Raum Wess and her husband, Craig; brothers Rick Pafford, John Pafford and Don Pafford; sisters Theda Pafford Jennings, Vicki Pafford Pendergrass, Peggy Pafford Lifford, Sandra Pafford Delaney, and Janet Pafford Lester; and many, many nieces and nephews .

Shirley loved working outdoors with her flowers and had an amazingly green thumb. She could also repair almost anything mechanical and was an early adapter of computer technology, for which she truly had a gift. A kind and generous person by nature, she was always there with a helping hand and never waited to be asked. She will be greatly missed.

Ron and the rest of the family are especially grateful for the help and support given to Shirley by her sister, Janet and brother-in-law, Allen Lester.

A private service is planned for a later date.

In keeping with her true generosity of spirit, Shirley donated her body to the Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University through the Anatomical Gift Program.

Condolences may be sent to the Raum family online at www.dillow-taylor.com

Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Jonesborough, TN 423-753-3821