Shannon Sullivan

Shannon Sullivan passed away on Monday September 12, 2022 at the age of 85, with her family by her side.  At Shannon’s wish, her ashes will be spread in Cascade, Idaho in a private service. 

Shannon was born in Seattle, Washington to John and Marcy Kirby.  She was the oldest of 4 children.  When she was six her father bought a ranch and the family moved to Wingville, where she walked 3 miles to school. She lived in Baker County the rest of her life though some of her fondest memories were spending summers in Cascade with her grandparents, Ed and Marcella Davis and her aunt, Mary Cross Kerby and family.

Shannon had a variety of careers in her life.  She enjoyed bookkeeping and was the bookkeeper and office manager for OK Livestock in Caldwell, ID which was owned by her parents John and Marcy Kirby.  After the business was sold she received certification in Hypnotherapy.  She provided counseling for Mayday and helped people with a variety of psychological issues from weight loss, overcoming test anxiety and changing life patterns and beliefs.  In addition to counseling she started the Wild Rose School of Insurance and taught Insurance Continuing Education throughout Eastern Oregon.  Shannon continued bookkeeping, for son in law Sam Haines’s scrap metal business until she was 80.

After graduating from Baker High in 1955, Shannon attended Oregon State and Oregon.  She had a love of knowledge her entire life.  She later received her degree in Economics from Eastern Oregon University.  She studied and read her entire life on a vast variety of subjects from physics, psychology, geology, opera, interior design, metaphysics, astrology and Shakespeare.  She loved Great Courses and took classes into her 80’s on Origin of the Brain, the Human Mind and Neuroscience to name a few.  She was a member of a book club with friends Betty Kuhl and Leona Fleetwood, among others in the 1980s. They read The Aquarian Conspiracy, which Shannon said was the book that had the greatest impact on her life.

Shannon was generous and outgoing.  Many have received handwritten notes of encouragement, appreciation or support from her over the years.  She loved giving books to people she thought they needed to read (even if they didn’t want to) and donated many books to the Baker County Library.

Good food, beauty, flowers, playing bridge, her home and the outdoors were among her favorite pleasures. Shannon enjoyed good food and cooking along with a glass of wine.  Dessert was her favorite course, especially Bourbon Pecan Ice Cream.  Often times it was the main course.  Shannon loved the outdoors, everything from gathering cattle to gardening and sitting on the deck next to Powder River. Anywhere she lived was filled with beautiful things, colors, especially blues and purples, and flowers.  Shannon was always up for a drive to explore eastern Oregon and beyond.  Her short cuts were legendary.  Her favorite overseas trip was Ireland. St Patrick’s Day always saw her in green.

If you knew Shannon long, you were laughing.  She loved nothing more than telling a funny story, usually on herself, like when she left to go on a trip and ran over her suitcase, stopped the car, threw the suitcase in the trunk and kept going.

In her early 70’s Shannon was dealt a bad hand and diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.   Her illness was severe and she approached it with courage and determination.  In order to take her mind off illness she joined a writing group with Eloise Dielman and Jessie Ritch.  She wrote Days of Travel, a lively family history.  She continued working on short stories and a murder mystery.

 She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Marcy Kirby, sisters Marcella Dawn Engelhardt and Judy Kirby, brother Johnny Kirby and ex-husbands Thomas Pearce and Don Sullivan.

Shannon  is survived by her daughter Marcy Haines and  son in law Sam Haines; sister in law Jan Kirby; nieces Dawn Engelhardt, Celeste Glazer and  Shannon Raquel Kirby and grandnieces and a grand nephew.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation or the Baker County Library through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home & Cremation Services, PO Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834. Online Condolences can be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com