Glenda Shanks

Glenda Louise (Faurot) Shanks of Grand Junction, Colorado passed away peacefully on April 29, 2020 from an injury sustained in a fall.  She was everything to many people: a wife, a mother and stepmother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a sister and sister-in-law, a daughter, an aunt, a friend.

Glenda was born on March 28, 1941 in Winfield, Kansas to Glenn and Elva (Cordwell) Faurot, the third of what would be four children.  She was a little redhead that made people say, “Yep, that’s Glenn Faurot’s daughter!”  As a very young child she had the unique experience of living on Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary; her father was an officer there.  The families of those who worked for Alcatraz lived in apartments on the island, with the children riding a boat to San Francisco for school each day.  Glenda moved back to Kansas with her mother, sister and brother when her father entered WWII in 1944.

When her father returned to civilian life the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri and later to Grandview, Missouri.  She graduated from Grandview High School in 1959. Glenda enjoyed dancing and in high school was on the local teen version of Bandstand, “TV Teen Town”.  She participated in school plays and played clarinet in band; she was well liked by all her peers and teachers.  Later she attended CMSU in Warrensburg, Missouri, where she joined the sorority Alpha Gamma Delta.

Glenda’s happiest years were those after she married her beloved husband, Jim Shanks, whom she met when they both worked for the City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri.  Glenda and Jim were married on June 5, 1982 and combined their families; they both had children with the same names since each had a daughter named Christine and a son named Jeff.  They later moved to Grand Junction, Colorado for Jim to take a position as Public Works Director.  Glenda worked as City Clerk for the Town of Palisade and Administrative Services Director for the Mesa County Public Library District for many years, where she went far above and beyond, assuming responsibilities that no one else would have been able to accomplish nearly as well.  She and Jim built their dream home in the desert across from the mountains of the Colorado National Monument, and had beautiful views of sky and mountains from all sides. For several years she was head of the Homeowners Association for their subdivision. She had a regular Thursday coffee gathering with friends that she cherished.  She loved her cats, collected music boxes of all types, was an amazing cook, and enjoyed receiving a Christmas ornament with the date for each year from her husband.  She and Jim did a lot of outdoor activities like camping, as well as taking cruises through the Panama Canal, Alaska, New Zealand and Australia, a special trip to South Africa, and a cruise with her sister Carolyn and several friends to Europe. She enjoyed loving relationships with all of her children, stepchildren, and grandchildren and she made frequent visits to Kansas City, Missouri to see her family and friends and New York City to visit her daughter Christine and son-in-law Jerry.  Her younger sister, Jan, called her “DeeDee” from the time Jan started talking as a baby, and it stuck.  Though Jim and Glenda’s other family and friends continued to call her Glenda, she was always DeeDee to Jan and Aunt DeeDee to her nieces and nephews.

Glenda was preceded in death by her son, Jeff Wilson, her parents, Glenn and Elva (Cordwell) Faurot, her brother, Don Faurot, her grandparents, Clarence and Mary Jane (Farrington) Cordwell and Ralph and Bessie (Wentworth) Faurot, and several nieces and nephews.  She is survived by her devoted husband, Jim Shanks, her daughter and son-in-law, Christine and Jerry Prince, her stepchildren, Jeff Shanks and Christine Shanks-Hansen (Greg), her grandchildren, Kasi Shanks, Josh Shanks, Jessica (Jesse) Redmond and Rachel (John) Whitman, three great-grandsons Jeremiah Whitman, Wyatt Whitman and Will Redmond, two sisters, Carolyn Wilson and Jan (Randy) Graves, many nieces and nephews, and a host of friends who deeply loved, admired and respected her.

The loss of Glenda leaves us sad and with voids in our lives that won’t be filled.  We loved her with all our hearts.

Services will be held at a later date.