11/26-Shirley Caskey

Shirley Joyce (Chapman) Caskey was born on January 4, 1937 to Fred and Iva (Worthington) Chapman and died at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri on November 21, 2018. She grew up on a farm near Hume, Missouri, attended grade school at Brush College, and attended junior and senior high school in Hume and Metz, Missouri.  She graduated from Metz High School as the valedictorian in 1955.  Following high school, she worked for two years at Western Insurance Company in Fort Scott, Missouri while she waited for Leon to return home from his overseas service in the United States Air Force so that they could get married.

Shirley married Howard Leon Caskey at her parents’ home near Metz on June 15, 1957.  Leon and Shirley began their life together in a house apartment in Kansas City, Missouri.  Nine months and 10 days after their wedding, Leon and Shirley began their family with the birth of their son Robin Howard.  In 1959, they moved to Clinton where they continued to live for the next 59 years.  One year and four days after Rob was born, James Randal joined their growing family, and two years and one week later, Ronald Fred was born expanding their family to five.  Not yet knowing how to drive, Shirley would somehow wrangle all three sons and walk to the grocery store every other week.  When her sons were 8, 7 and 5 years old, Shirley gave birth to a daughter Teresa Dianne to complete their family.  Throughout her children’s childhoods, Shirley was a cub scout den mother and a 4-H leader.

In 1972, Leon and Shirley built and moved into their home northeast of Clinton.  Shirley was proud of her home, her yard and her garden.  She especially loved her flower gardens and her irises.  She could tell you where each flower came from (whether it was from her childhood home or her school or was given to her by someone at church).  She spent countless hours canning and freezing vegetables and strawberries from her garden.

Shirley was both artistic and musical.  She spent hundreds of hours making intricate attendance posters and projects for Sunday School and Vacation Bible School.  She taught Sunday School for more than 50 years and loved each child (even the ornery ones) and lead many children to Jesus.  Shirley played the piano for Allen Street Baptist Church for many years and loved playing and singing hymns.  In the last years of her life, Shirley’s passion and ministry at Allen Street Baptist Church was running the food pantry.  She took great pride in shopping for the food, carefully putting the packages together to include balanced meals, and meeting with the families.

Shirley dearly loved her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.  When they were growing up, she took great pride in decorating Wilton cakes for their birthdays and handmaking them each quilts and blankets, each one with personalized details unique to the child.

Next to Jesus, the most important person in her life was her husband of 61 years.  She loved being Leon’s wife and companion.  She did not really care what she was doing so long as they were together.  She accompanied him while he ran his fishing limb-lines, while he hunted for mushrooms and while he did electrical work.  She loved working with him in the garden, bowling with him on a couples league and attending his Sunday School class once she quit teaching Sunday School herself.  She even learned to love watching football, baseball and college basketball as well as the Western channel.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents (Fred and Iva Chapman), a son (Ron), and her mother-in-law and father-in-law (Alfred and Irene Caskey).  She is survived by her husband Leon, her sons Rob and Randy, her daughter Teresa and son-in-law Darin, her grandchildren Nathan and his wife Krissy, Steve, Heather, Allison, and Victoria; her great-grandchildren Alyssa, Amber, Paisley and Silas; and her sisters Evelyn (Larry) Warden and Sharon (Don) Brenton.

A service to celebrate Shirley’s life will be held on Tuesday, November 27, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at the Allen Street Baptist Church, 210 W. Allen Street, Clinton, Missouri with burial at the Drakes Chapel Cemetery.  The family will receive visitors at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday in advance of the service.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Food Pantry of the Allen Street Baptist Church.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Vansant-Mills Funeral Home, Clinton, Missouri.