09/11/2026
Shelly M. Zackasee
The kindest, most beautiful soul has left us and heaven has gained another angel. Shelly Zackasee (Perry) died on Wednesday, September 9 after a sudden brief medical event and following an amazing weekend at the beach in Nags Head with her husband Chris and mom, Diana. The Outer Banks was one of her favorite places to spend time with her family and friends, soaking up the sun and sea air.
From the start of her life, Shelly was a spunky little sister with smiles, energy and sass for miles. Always dancing and putting on shows she had a flare for all things fun and whacky. Running around the yard or a dirt pile with no shoes and no cares (and sometimes no clothes), she began her hippy journey. Growing up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio was the starting point of a lifelong collection of friends. The years spent on Ashland Avenue cheerleading in the backyard, playing softball with the big kids, and staying out until the streetlights came on was something that grounded her in love for life and laughter. As she started school, Shelly gathered more lifelong friends starting as early as kindergarten; she loved staying in touch with these people or reconnecting after years apart; planning and attending class reunions.
Shelly graduated Cuyahoga Falls High School in 1989, was a proud member of the tiger marching band where she didn’t take it too seriously but loved summer camps with so many laughs, cramming too many kids in a very small car with music blaring, the bus trips to away events and the pizza with friends after the games.
Shelly went on to attend The University of Akron becoming a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, where she again made wonderful friends. She truly experienced the college life to its fullest, living in the “annex” and attending her secret ceremonies that she wouldn’t tell her sister about. She stayed connected to her sorority sisters spent time with them as busy adult lives allowed. Following college Shelly had a few jobs, landing at National City Bank in Cleveland and returning years later to PNC following time at home with her precious girls. It is no surprise at all that she built treasured friendships working alongside her PNC peers until her final days.
Shelly met her husband Chris in college in 1992. They spent her first date at a Cleveland Indians home opener where they went for 19 very long innings. It is likely she had never watched a baseball game before that day. They had some quality time that day to launch their eventual 29-year marriage where many more games were watched. She soon realized she met the real hippy to her flower child soul as they spent years traveling the U.S. to experience the Grateful Dead; sleeping in cars, dancing in her bare feet and flying by the seat of her pants to live her very best life (her mom and sister did not enjoy the “Deadhead” era). Shelly and Chris lived in Cuyahoga Falls after they married in 1997 where they raised the two most important people in the world to both of them, Mary Madison and Abigail Anne. Starting in 2005 when Mary was born, and then in 2008 when Abby joined us, Shelly’s sole mission was to raise spirited, smart, independent, determined, magnificent daughters. She infused them with the best parts of herself, as they are all of this and more. Raising Mary and Abby was the most significant achievement of her life, the journey may not have been what some think of as conventional, however you would be hard pressed to find a kid that wouldn’t have wanted her as a mommy. There were backyard baths in a swimming pool, because inside baths were boring; outdoor movies in the summer even if she got 200 mosquito bites, because this was a memory she wouldn’t forego. Playing barefoot in puddles during the rain, walking blocks to get the best view of a rainbow, reading books with one and jumping on the bed with the other; coloring, painting and making plans for the next adventure. Shelly would not have traded a single experience with her girls for all the money in the world.
Anyone who met Shelly was touched by the truest care and happiness. Her love for life and all its goodness was impossible to resist. You didn’t have to be her lifelong friend or even someone she knew well, if she met you, she would remember you and your 2-minute conversation, forever. Shelly didn’t need anything material or extravagant, she enjoyed the simplest of things, satisfied with whatever gave her peace and joy.
There doesn’t yet appear to be a rhyme or reason to why or how someone so glaringly special, so selflessly positive, so absolutely and wholly good can be ripped from our lives. Our sensitive, happy, hippy flower child, Shelly, Shell-Bell, Dancing Queen is dancing barefoot where there is no pain or sadness, no hate or pettiness, no anger or fear, and yet she will find a way to make it even better.
Shelly is survived by her husband Chris Zackasee; daughters, Mary Madison and Abigail Anne; parents, Diana Julien (Gail Kuglar); father, Richard Perry (Gail); sister, Mary Jo Perry-Mihocka (David); aunts & uncles, Darlene & Bob Gunn, Fred and Zohra Perry, Dean Hagenmeier, Jr.; mother-in-law, Kathy Zackasee; grandma, “C”hristine Seely; siblings in law, Lori DeSantis (Matt), Amy Ash (Chuck), Mark Zackasee (Rachel); niece, Morgan Guiles; nephews, Robert Guiles, Nathaniel Ash, Lucas Ash, and Wahlker Zackasee; cousins, step nieces and nephews, and countless friends who will miss but always remember her light.
Shelly is preceded in death by Michelle Renee Gunn, John William Zackasee, Mary Francis Smith, Robert Joseph Julien, Greta Kuglar, James Colby Smith, Joseph Cindrich, and Nick Cindrich.
A mass is planned for 10 am on Friday, September 18, 2026 at St. Bernard’s, 44 University Avenue in Akron, Ohio. A brief visitation will begin at 8:30 am, prior to the mass.
Because Shelly would want us to smile and remember all the best things about our time together, a FUNeral celebration will be held immediately following the mass at 1660 State Road, Cuyahoga Falls.
Shelly and Abigail spent time volunteering with the homeless community. Please consider a donation in Shelly’s name to St. Bernard’s to support the Hunger Program.
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