Reo Arleen Salmon Shenk

Reo Arleen Salmon Shenk of Easton, Maryland and Sarasota, Florida passed away on Sunday, June 19, 2005 at her home in Easton after a long battle with cancer. Mrs. Shenk was born December 27, 1928, in Logan, Utah to Nelson Hunter and Lucille Sant Salmon. After the early death of her mother, she was raised in Wyoming by her grandparents until 1941, when her father remarried. He was an Army Air Force Officer who was stationed throughout the South during World War II and eventually made his permanent home in Rapid City, South Dakota. She graduated from Rapid City High School and Spearfish Teacher’s Normal and then taught as a country schoolteacher until she received her Associate Degree from Brookings College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. She married another student in 1948. She moved with her husband to Des Moines, Iowa, where he graduated from Des Moines Still College of Osteopathic Medicine. They settled in Dayton, Ohio and had two sons, Louis Henry Eske, III, and David Nelson Eske. Following a divorce Reo returned to school and received a Bachelors Degree in Education from Miami University of Ohio and a Masters Degree in School Psychology at the University of Dayton. She was noted as a particularly gifted and compassionate school psychologist for several years in the Dayton School System. On July 31 1971 Reo married George C. Shenk, Sr., and moved to Annapolis, Maryland, where she resided with her son David, and three stepchildren, George, Jr., Stephen and Janet Shenk. She continued her career as a school psychologist in the Anne Arundel County School System until her retirement in 1992. Reo was active for many years in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis and became its first female president. She was a member of the Maryland Civitan club, where she served as secretary and treasurer, the Sarasota Power Squadron, and the Annapolis Power Squadron, where she was District Lieutenant. After retirement the Shenks divided their time between Sarasota and Easton. Reo played golf in Florida and sailed in Maryland. She was an art lover and an accomplished painter, and served as Co-President of the Art Club of Sarasota’s Palm Aire Golf and Country Club. She also was a member of the Edgewater Senior Center and the Academy of the Arts in Easton. In recent years the Shenks traveled around the world, seeing much of Europe, Russia, New Zealand, and most of the United States and Canada. She is survived by her husband of 34 years, George C. Shenk, Sr.; her children, Louis Eske of Tujunga, California, and David Eske and his wife Karen of Laurel, Maryland; three stepchildren, George Shenk, Jr., and his wife Carolyn of Crownsville, Maryland; Stephen Shenk and his wife Fannie of Centerville, Maryland, and Janet Shenk Dee and her husband Michael of Annapolis, Maryland; her sister, Shirley Joan Salmon of Kansas City, Missouri; her brother, Thomas Lee Salmon of Dayton, Ohio; and five grandchildren, Timothy Shenk, Emma Shenk, Madi Shenk, Chastain Shenk, and Michael Dee. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, Easton, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Reo Shenk’s honor may be made to the St. Mark’s United Methodist Church’s Building Fund, 100 Peachblossom Road, Easton, MD 21601. Arrangements are by Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton, MD.