Carolyn “Jean” Shaw was born in Kansas City, MO, on June 1, 1939, to Floyd Henry and Elsie May Morris. Jean was the youngest by 13 years and the only girl. From the get-go, she won her Daddy's heart and kept step behind his tall, lanky frame as she helped with chores, tagged along to the sale barn and soaked up his cleverness and kindness. From her mom, she learned to cook just about anything and how to make ends meet with flair. She also gained her mother's gentle ways with animals; and with persistence and treats, could make a dog dance or a horse kneel.
Ever a cowgirl, Jean grew up riding horses and spent hours along wooded trails in Jackson County with her friends. They worked up routines and even had a few gigs with their self-formed horseback drill team. It was at a cattle show, however, where she met the man with whom she would ride through life. Clint and Jean became acquainted at the Missouri State Fair in the dairy barn. The brown-eyed Jean was showing Brown Swiss. Mutual friends playing match maker teased the two about their likely destiny. After a few group dates with four friends crammed into a single cab pickup, Clint worked up the courage to lose the crowd and finagle time alone with his “Jeannie.” The two graduated from different high schools in the Kansas City district in 1957, they were married on Aug. 9, 1958, and had their first child Sherry in 1959. Four years later twins, Brent and Brenda, would complete their family.
Clint and Jean were constant companions in a marriage spanning over 65 years. They moved only three times in their wedded life, with their final home in Harrisonville for the past 50 years. In the early years, Jean worked a short time at Southwestern Bell. She was a constant entrepreneur, and owned a ceramic shop called the “Ceramic Chalet” in Raytown, where she taught classes on molding, firing and painting. Side hustles included selling toys, wigs and Tupperware. Jean was an expert horse trader and always made great deals, getting something a little extra in each barter, then turning that deal right around to make money on the other end. After moving to Cass County, she worked part time for a florist. But when the twins began attending high school, Jean went too – hired as the guidance counselor's secretary.
First and foremost though, Jean wholeheartedly fulfilled her loving role as wife and mother. Up at 5:00 a.m. to fix breakfast and pack a lunch for Dad, and waiting at the door with supper ready when he came home each evening. She volunteered as room mother, helping with every school party. She was a 4-H leader, a horsemanship teacher, and a home vet for every critter that got sick. Jean instilled in her children the desire to compete well and try to win, but also to be gracious, humble and kind. She taught them to love and respect the elderly, think optimistically, and to rise above any challenge. So many of her traits won the undying devotion of family and all who knew her. Her fun and kind ways also won her the title of Harrisonville's Mother of the Year.
Jean hauled critters to the local school for show and tell, and pulled a horse trailer through down town Kansas City, so the kids could saddle up under the KCTV broadcast tower, then ride ponies and be interviewed for the newscast at noon. Mom chopped ice, hauled water to a cistern, and had enough food at every horse show or high school rodeo to feed the entire herd of friends who would hang out at the “5-Bar-S” camper between events. It became known as “Shaw's Short Order Shack,” because Mom was always prepared.
She and Clint were active in the Lee's Summit Saddle Club and could out two-step anyone across the dance floor. They played some pretty mean hands of Canasta and Pinochle with Floyd and Elsie, later winning as partners in Pitch tournaments with life-long friends. Jean served as Secretary for the Golden Circle horse show circuit and the Mid America Santa Gertrudis Association. She worked alongside Clint to create and host the first Missouri Junior Rodeo Association. She designed the first logo for the Missouri High School Rodeo Association; and wrote, edited and published a statewide rodeo magazine for the organization, as well as a regional cattle magazine. Together, Clint and Jean (i.e. Ma & Pa Shaw) founded Frontier Cattle Co. and traveled the nation with their grandsons showing Gerts. Among their championship accolades were Herdsmanship honors at the Tulsa State Fair and the Memphis State Fair.
Her talents had no end. Jean sang beautiful harmony, played the piano, trained pets to do tricks, rode horses, wrote poetry, crafted and painted. She and a friend were the original Pinterest and Farm House décor phenoms. Those beautiful country hands that snapped green beans and could rub away every ache, also custom crafted and hand painted anything and everything from barn wood to toilet seats. A couple of her more notable skills: Jean had an eye for conformation and could tell if a horse or cow would be a champion. And she ingeniously named every animal on the place. A piglet dubbed Sweet Georgia Brown, a coon called Snookie and a Great Dane known as Sissy's “Suprize.” POA ponies were as famous as their namesakes, like Freckles Brown, Charlie Brown, Slim Pickens, and Minnie Pearl. There was Trail Boss, Pride, Cha Cha and One Eyed Jack; Blue Mountain Music and Matt Star Jesse, to name just a few. For the cows she remained as creative – Little Liza, Chocolate Charlie, Reba, Drifter and Wheel Barrow among the dozens.
Mom lived joyfully for the Lord and was baptized in Brush Creek by her son-in-law, Alan. She loved strong preaching and gentle teaching from the Word of God. As a member of Sycamore Grove Mennonite Church for 35 years, Jean served faithfully by hosting a small group in their home, spearheading the Sisters of Sycamore, and helping plan for the Golden Age Banquet.
She withstood more than the average person could bear – the loss of her mother when she was just starting her own family, diabetes, heart surgery, a stroke, limited vision, two limb amputations, Parkinson's Disease, and decades in a wheelchair. Ever resilient and optimistic, Jean journeyed through each hard path in life with grace, a sense of humor, determination and tremendous faith that she could do all things through Christ who strengthened her. Now, she walks and talks with her Savior and is healed forevermore and singing with the angels.
Jean is survived by husband, Clint, of Harrisonville, MO; daughter, Brenda (Alan) Black, of Deepwater, MO; son, Brent (Marla) Shaw, of Haleyville, AL; grandchildren: Justin Rhodes of LaVernia, TX; Kyle (Angie) Rhodes of Harrisonville, MO; Austin (Laura) Black, Butler, MO; Cooper (Riley) Black, Moundville, MO; Amanda Shaw, Odessa, MO; Kaleb (Carly) Shaw of Lee's Summit, MO; Kolt (Baylee) Shaw of Fort Worth, TX; great-grandchildren: Clint Rhodes, Amy Rhodes, Hailey Black, Reagan Black, Lainey Black, Aspen Black (due in May), Leighton Shaw, Lettie Shaw, and Jameson Shaw. She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and beloved daughter, Sherry Rhodes.
