Wanda Shanks

Wanda Lu Guffey Shanks has gone home to be with the Lord on October 14, 2017 at the age of 91 at her home in Kenefick, Texas.

Graveside service for Mrs. Shanks will be 2:00 p.m., Thursday, October 19, 2017 at Fairlawn Cemetery in Liberty, Texas. Arrangements are under the direction of Pace-Stancil Funeral Home, Dayton.

Wanda Shanks was born on August 14, 1926 in Shawnee, Oklahoma to her parents Rita Mae Guffey and Russell Guffey. She was also lovingly raised by her step-father Jim B. White. After completing high school, she pursued her lifelong goal of becoming a nurse. She began her nursing training at Baylor University and completed her nursing internship at St. Paul’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Her intention was to take her nursing degree and go to Africa to help the sick and less fortunate. Luckily for her family, she met the love of her life, Terry Lorraine Shanks, first and got married on February 12, 1949, and the saga began.

Wanda Shanks had four children, two boys and two girls. The eldest is Kerry Shanks Haire married to Jack Haire. Randall “Randy” Charles Shanks is next in line married to Punkie Shanks. Next is Jill Shanks Shane married to Lamar Shane. The youngest is Russell “Rusty” Guffey Shanks married to Kim Shanks and their two kids Blaine Rogers and Dalton Rogers. Wanda has grandchildren, Shelley Shane, Trent Haire, Chad Shanks and his wife Amy, Michelle Shanks, Leah Yates, and Clay Shanks and his wife Haleigh. Clay’s three children are Colin and Cade Shanks and Peyton Trahan. She has three great grandchildren and two more on the way!
Wanda Shanks is also survived by her sister Boyrita Guffey Rice, her husband Bill, her nephew Tim Rice, and her niece Becca Lu.

Wanda Shanks’ greatest love was her family. She enjoyed nothing more than gathering everyone around a Thanksgiving table and having enough food to feed an army. Her turkey and dressing were legendary and her pecan pie recipe is a closely guarded family secret to this day. Her homemade biscuits and gravy were delicious but her husband always referred to the biscuits as “sinkers” (to the bottom of your stomach) and “axle grease”, it is still a traditional joke around the family table. She loved to cook and she loved to share her love of cooking with others, especially when they were hurting. She would be the first one to make a covered dish for a funeral or for a family that was down on their luck.

Wanda Shanks was a Registered Nurse at the Dayton Hospital for many years. Although it is now gone, the many patients who received her loving care will long remember her service there. She loved to work with Dr. Richter, the owner and main family doctor for so many Daytonites, in that hospital as the circulating nurse in surgery and the general charge nurse on the floor of the hospital. She also bandaged many wounds of many neighborhood kids in Dayton and in Kenefick.
Although an intensely private person, Wanda Shanks touched many lives in her travels through life and we all have been better for it. She could not put up with discrimination and she would not stand by if she felt that someone was being demeaned. She taught her children to live by The Golden Rule and to love God.

She will definitely be missed by family and friends!

Although an intensely private person, Wanda Shanks touched many lives in her travels through life and we all have been better for it. She could not put up with discrimination and she would not stand by if she felt that someone was being demeaned. She taught her children to live by The Golden Rule and to love God.

She will definitely be missed by family and friends!