Obituary of Mary Shanks

MARY SHANKS Funeral services for Mary Shanks, 86 of Urbandale, formerly of Bedford, will be 1 p.m. Saturday at New Life Missionary Church in Bedford with Rev. Bob Thompson officiating. Interment will be at Washington Cemetery, Gravity. Memorials are suggested to New Life Missionary Church Deacons There is no scheduled visitation. Eickemeyer Funeral Chapel, Bedford, is providing arrangements. Mary Ethel Thornton Shanks was born March 2nd, 1932 in Taylor County, Iowa to Alonzo and Pearl Ellen (Bradley) Thornton. The family lived southeast of Bedford. Mary attended country school and graduated from Bedford High School in 1950. She married Carroll Lee Shanks in 1950 and they farmed southeast of Bedford, later buying an 80-acre farm west of Bedford. The family moved to Bedford where the couple raised their children: Karen, Alonzo “Lonnie” and Lisa. Through the years she worked at Wholesale Grocery, the locker, Golds Laundromat and was a cook at the school. Mary enjoyed quilting for her family, gardening and canning, playing guitar and country music. The kids and grandkids were her life. She loved to have them visit and wanted them all together for dinners, holidays, and to visit and eat with family. She was a wonderful cook making chicken and noodles, cakes and all of the good comfort foods. Preceding her in death is her husband, son Lonnie, parents, and brothers, John and James Thornton. Mary is survived by her daughters Karen Shanks, Des Moines, and Lisa (Jeff) Morrical, Ava, Missouri; grandchildren Rabecca (Brian) Jones, Des Moines, Todd Brown, Milford, Illinois, and Lacey (Hieu Diep) Groff, Lincoln, Nebraska; great grandchildren Lauren and Reece Jones, Gabrielle, Peyton and Aubrie Brown, and Chloe and Zoey Groff; sister Bethel (Edward) French, Bedford, Iowa; and sister-in-law Beverly Thornton Kemery, Bedford, Iowa.