MARY BREEDLOVE

LAMAR- A memorial funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for Mary Joanna (Shaver) Breedlove, 88, Lamar, who died Saturday night, Sept. 9, 2017, at Truman Healthcare Center. Rev. Patrick Teter will officiate. Committal of ashes will be in Forest Park Cemetery in Joplin.

Arrangements are under the direction of Daniel Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Red Cross for hurricane relief.

Condolences and memories may be shared at www.danielfuneralhome.net.

Survivors include a son, John Breedlove and wife Nga, Waltham, Mass.; two grandsons, Paul and Brian; five great-grandchildren, Alex, Will, Ethan, Clancey and Paul, Jr.; two brothers, Gerald Shaver and Charlie Shaver and wife Vicky, all of Lamar, many nephews and nieces and a large extended family.

She was preceded in death by two brothers, George Paul Shaver and John Wesley Shaver.

Mrs. Breedlove was born May 2, 1929, in Joplin, to George B. and Mary Barbara (Trautwein) Shaver. After graduating as valedictorian of Liberal High School in 1947, she went on to become a registered nurse. Entering the U.S. Army Nurse Corp in 1951, she was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, ministering to the wounded of the Korean Conflict. Returning to civilian life, she continued her nursing career at hospitals in Tennessee, Georgia, Joplin, and Barton County Memorial Hospital for many years.

A lifelong learner, she enrolled in Pittsburg State University, earning a bachelors and a masters degree in physics and taught math at Nevada High School for a short time. Keeping her mind sharp and her hands busy in retirement, she was an avid reader, an ASPCA advocate and self-taught weaver, making rugs for family and friends. She was a member of Lamar American Legion and St. Mary’s Catholic Church.