From July 21, 1950, through June 22, 2018, Talesa Shores danced through life with grace and elegance. She was a wonderful wife of 46 years to Tom, and a loving mother to Trent and Tait. She smiled from cheek to cheek when her daughter-in-law Caitlin and son Trent recently told her she would be a grandmother in December 2018. She is dearly missed by her brother Otto Rose, friends John Koons, Susan Long Randall, Marcene Etchieson, and her beloved pet dog Doogan.
Talesa loved dance, Sooner football, jogging, playing the piano, Danielle Steele novels, and collecting giraffes. There are so many giraffes. She never missed a soccer game, piano recital, or school event for Tait and Trent. She also made the best Yorkshire pudding and party mix on this side of heaven.
She was a graduate of Northwest Classen H.S. and earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma. She was a dance-artist-in-residence at Tulsa’s Harwelden Institution. She worked as a choreographer and developed “Creative Movement” to teach dance to children. Talesa loved going to the Lyric Theater. She brought the arts and a creative vision to classrooms and musicals in Edmond and Tulsa. Talesa also volunteered as a teacher and mentor to Oklahomans newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As a daily warrior against MS, she never complained and maintained a faithfully positive outlook. She fundraised for MS research, advocated for advancement of treatments, and led stretching exercises and shared inspirational words prior to local MS Walks. In 2001, she was awarded the Advocacy Award by the OKC Mayor’s Committee on Disability Concerns. In 2007, she was inducted into the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s “Service Hall of Fame.”
Some people minister to the sick. Talesa ministered to the caregivers and healers. She openly shared her faith and taught her “hand prayer” to many. Talesa was a lifelong Episcopalian. She smiled often and would frequently laugh until she cried. She was pure joy. Talesa is much loved and will be dearly missed. Well done, good and faithful servant.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 28, 2018, at 2pm, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 127 NW 7th Street, OKC. Visitation is available Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 5-7pm, at Chapel Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 8701 Northwest Expressway, OKC. Flowers may be sent to Chapel Hill.
