Charlene Jordan Shaller

Charlene (Jordan) Shaller was born in Carbon, Texas on September 19, 1922, to Charles and Ima Jean (Skinner) Jordan and died on October 15, 2016 in Edmond,Oklahoma. .

She attended McMurray College and graduated from Draughn School of Business. She married Thomas William (Tom) Irwin and moved to Buffalo, NY during WWII. At the end of the war, they settled in Oklahoma City and started their family and developed their roots in The Village. She was a preschool teacher for Prince's Play School for many years. She always maintained her home and enjoyed gardening and growing her own vegetables, along with being a wonderful mother.

Charlene and Walter Shaller joined their families in 1966 starting out in Oklahoma City, then Dallas and finally settling in Abilene until his death and operated the Buffalo Gap Steakhouse for many years. They were active and served in the Texas Restaurant Association. Besides being in the restaurant business, they traveled extensively all over the world and her favorite vacation of all times was being on the Queen Elizabeth II ship. She was a member of St. Paul's Methodist Church.

A prolific reader, Charlene's book collection could fill a small town's public library. She could always be counted on for a review and a recommendation for her less literary friends. There were very few days that ever passed that she didn't spend time reading from the newspaper or a long novel. She acquired nearly as many movies as she did books, and favored a good biography or one with a good moral lesson.

Walter was able to live at home with the compassionate and loving care he received from Charlene which prevented him from living out his years at a nursing home. She was a wonderful nurse and prepared tasty diabetic meals and kept the home running smoothly until his death. Despite the tremendous void she felt with his passing, she continued to lead a full life, creating detailed miniature doll houses, playing bridge and attending the philharmonic. Charlene was always thoughtful and fun-loving and played a round of bridge every opportunity, even if it was just on her computer. Her indomitable spirit and the ease of gliding through life and enjoying herself will be part of her legacy that her family will remember. She was past president of Abilene Restaurant Association Auxiliary.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter, a daughter, Lynn Olson, brothers Roy, Jack and Harry Jordan and Bernard Campbell, her companion in her twilight years.

She leaves behind her daughters, Annette Knight, and her husband, Sam Bader, Colo. Springs, CO, Jane and her husband, Eddie Lowther, OKC, OK, and her sons, Thomas William (Bill) Irwin, Jr., Austin, TX and Roger and wife, Jackie Shaller, Schulenburg, TX. Her ten grandchildren include Tracey Myers, James Knight, Krystal Wallace, Connery and Tosha Lowther, Katri Shaller, Kalli Dechert, Kari Cato, Christopher Olson and Alyson Henry. She has ten (almost eleven) great grandchildren including Brennen Myers, Jaden and Joclynn Knight, Chandler Wallace, Deacon Lowther, Zoe Shaller Montebelli, Kloey, Kori, Krissa Cato, Jackson Dechert and Baby Boy Dechert (due November 1, 2016). Other survivors include a brother, Anthony Jordan, of Palm Beach, FL, and sister, Evelyn Jarrett, Eastland, TX.

The family would also like to thank the staff at Touchmark at Coffee Creek in Edmond for their wonderful staff in the memory care unit. Charlene loved Richard Mbaka and Arthur Kivumbi and they went above and beyond and were “angels” on earth to her.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to help with the research of Alzheimer’s or to St. Jude's Children's Hospital would be appreciated. As a tribute to our mom, practice a random act of kindness, read to a child, call that friend you had intended to call so long ago, forgive someone who hurt your feelings, plant a tree or throw seeds on the barren ground to produce beauty where none existed. Sow a seed of hope in your own life and the spirit of our mother will live on in this world, far beyond our own memory banks. Feel free to share a memory or story with us.