Ginger Shearon

Virginia P. "Ginger" Shearon, 61, of Jackson passed away Thursday, April 23, 2015, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

She was born Aug. 3, 1953, in Joplin, Missouri, to the Rev. Morris and Virginia Willoughby Paul. The Rev. Paul formerly served as pastor at New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson, and Mrs. Paul was a former elementary school teacher in Jackson. Both are now deceased.

Ginger was a 1971 graduate of Jackson High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from Peabody/Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and later continued her education at Washington University in St. Louis. While raising her children, Ginger was a homemaker. Upon returning to Jackson in the mid-1990s, she taught music at Southeast Missouri State University. Having a passion for teaching children, she worked several years at Puxico Elementary School as the district Autism Specialist (her techniques were replicated throughout the state of Missouri). She also served as an autism consultant at Touchpoint in Cape Girardeau. Later she returned to SEMO, teaching piano at the River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

Ginger's Christian faith was very important to her; she attended Cape First in Cape Girardeau and was raised at New McKendree Church in Jackson. She had a flair for gourmet cooking and was active in the Community Choir in Cape Girardeau.

While she especially enjoyed the arts, nothing was as important to her as her grandchildren, Mackenzie and Gage. They looked forward to Nana Camp every summer, a week where she focused completely on them. Her family remembers her love of life and holds dear the memory of her kindness and compassion for others.

Loving survivors include three children, Elliot Shearon and fiancee Annie Burton of Cape Girardeau, Jon Shearon and girlfriend Luise King of Tuscon, Arizona, and Kelsey Shearon Gardner and husband Grant of St. Louis; two grandchildren, Mackenzie Shearon and Gage Shearon; two brothers, Bob (Yvonne) Paul of Nashville and John (Susan) Paul of Eureka, Montana.

Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to service time Tuesday at the chapel of McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson.

A memorial service will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the chapel, with the Rev. Jeff Wilson officiating. Inurnment will be private.

Memorials may take the form of contributions to Teen Challenge or Southeast Missouri University Foundation. Please memo all contributions "In Memory of Ginger Shearon."

Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting mccombsfuneralhome.com.