Jean Shaw McHale

Jean Shaw McHale, designer, entrepreneur, musician, charitable leader, daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother passed away due to complications with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Never one to approach life at less than maximum speed, she continued to work, play, and stay active in her Easton and Baltimore communities until the very end. She died peacefully at home in Easton early Saturday morning surrounded by her family. Born in Stewartstown, PA, Jean spent her early years on her family’s fruit farm, Shaw Orchards, where she inherited an appreciation for music and a deep-seated sense of resourcefulness from her parents, Clay and Anna Shaw. After graduating from Kennard-Dale High School, she pursued an academic career in music at Lebanon Valley College and later earned a Master’s degree in music from the University of Maryland. Upon completion of her Master's, she began sharing her gift of music and talent of teaching by forming a Benjamin Stoddert Middle School singing group, the Peppermint Pipers. Over several years, she led the group on national performance tours and recorded two albums. As in most areas of her life, she made a huge impact on the kids she led. In 2010, over 40 years later, the group reunited and gave a live performance at the Avalon Theater in Easton. Jean started Gaines McHale Antiques in Cockeysville, MD, in May of 1980. As the business grew, and later moved to downtown Baltimore, she expanded into interior design, historic renovation, and complete interior and exterior redesigns of remarkable private residences and businesses. Jean left an impact everywhere she went and contributed to her communities for decades. During her service to the Junior League of Baltimore, she led the Larks Singing Group (recording yet another album) and chaired numerous Holiday Pops extravaganzas in conjunction with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity in the process. A long-time member of 2nd Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, she directed the youth choir and orchestrated the annual Christmas pageant for many years. After moving to Maryland’s Eastern Shore shore in 1996, she immediately got involved in the local community. She served on the board of the Chesapeake Chamber Music for many years, chairing numerous annual fundraisers. She also dedicated her time and energy to the Talbot County Historical Society, serving as Secretary on the Board of Directors and helping the move and expansion of the Tharpe Antiques and Consignment charity. Jean fought a multi-year battle with ALS, but never let the terminal diagnosis slow her down. With incredible and selfless care from the team at the Johns Hopkins ALS Clinic, she and her husband Mike learned to make the best of life under the cloud of an ALS diagnosis. Over the past year, Jean and her husband visited 21 foreign cities and nine in the U.S., embarked on two multi-week international cruises, traveled to Hawaii, and drove thousands of miles to visit friends and family. She loved what she did, she loved her friends, she loved her family, and wasn’t willing to let ALS dictate the terms of her life. She is survived by both of her parents, two of her siblings, her husband, three sons, and six grandchildren. A celebration of Jean Shaw McHale’s life will be held at Christ Church in Easton, MD, Friday December 11, 2015, starting at noon. ALS is a horrendously cruel disease that debilitates strong and healthy people like Jean to the point where they can no longer move, eat, or breathe. With no cure or treatment on the horizon, ALS families need help right now for the resources and care to help them live out their days to the fullest. Honoring Jean’s wishes, the family requests that, in lieu of flowers, consider a donation to the Johns Hopkins ALS Clinic to provide much needed real-time support to other families battling ALS. Online donations may be made to https://secure.jhu.edu/form/als or by mail, Hopkins ALS Clinical Care & Education Fund, C/O Lora L. Clawson, CRNP, Suite 5070A, 601 North Caroline Street, Baltimore, MD 21287.

Jean Shaw McHale

April 9, 1944 - November 14, 2015