Jean Shanley Stauffer

Jean Shanley Stauffer, beloved wife, mother, and friend, died at Unity Point Hospice, Taylor House, in Des Moines, IA on February 1, 2021. It was her 91st birthday.

Born Jean Van Slyke Shanley at Kirkwood, Missouri on February 1, 1930, she was the youngest of three daughters of Connor B. Shanley and Marie Maull Shanley. After graduating from Kirkwood High School, Jean attended Marjorie Webster Junior College for women in Washington, D.C., before matriculating to University of Missouri-Columbia. Jean majored in Education, was active in the Mizzou chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and fell in love with William Albert (Bill) Stauffer, a Mizzou basketball player and journalism major from Maryville, MO. They graduated in 1952, were married in 1953, and for the next sixty-two years enjoyed a beautiful, loving, and harmonious marriage (Bill died in 2015).

Jean briefly taught elementary education, was active in PEO, Comment Club, and enjoyed tennis, golf, swimming, downhill skiing, and long walks with Bill. But she primarily devoted herself to raising three children and managing the many moves related to Bill's careers in journalism and with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, including moves to Omaha, Fargo, and Des Moines. Jean and Bill retired to Wilmington, NC in 1995, and enjoyed many years there before moving back to Deerfield Retirement Community in Urbandale, IA in 2010.

Jean had a kind or encouraging word for almost everyone she met. She took a keen interest not only in her children's interests but in those of their friends. She often treated her children's friends as family. One referred to her affectionately as "Jean"; another laughingly called her "Miss 20 questions," owing to her curiosity about his doings.

Jean is survived by her oldest sister, Marian Shanley Jacobs of Deerfield Retirement Community in Urbandale, IA; her three children, Rebecca (Mark) LaFavre of Dallas, TX, John Stauffer (Deborah Cunningham) of Cambridge, MA, Rachel Stauffer (Jim Lawson) of Des Moines; and her three grandchildren, Connor LaFavre, Erik Stauffer, and Nicholas Stauffer. Jean's sister, Elizabeth (Libby) Shanley Ferguson of Clayton, MO died in 2013.

Condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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