JoAnne Mae (Weary) Shearer

    JoAnne Mae (née Weary) Shearer of Newville passed away on Thursday May 4, 2023 at Cross Keys Village in New Oxford while holding her husband’s hand following a lengthy illness. JoAnne (along with her fraternal twin Jeanne) was born at home in Plainfield on June 10, 1936, the youngest of ten children, to the late Lawrence David and Edith Mae (née Finkenbinder) Weary. She graduated in 1953 from Carlisle High School. Throughout her life, she shared many of her memories of growing up and working on the family farm on Old York Road.

    In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her brothers and sisters (Maynard, Robert, Martha, Gayle, Merrill, Mary, Betty, Ruth and Jeanne), and her beloved grandson Kyle. She is survived by her adoring family, beginning with her husband of 67 years William Linden Shearer Sr.; her children William L. Jr (Connie) of Carlisle, Jeffery Weary (partner Jeanne Conlon) of Bloserville, Tracey Anne Holman (Nick) of York, and Valerie JoAnne S. Overton (Ken) of Chestertown MD; her granddaughter-in-law Kayla Shearer; grandchildren Madison, Matthew (Sarah), and Brian Shearer, Nicholas (Liz) and Philip Holman, Tilghman and Peri Overton, Nate Gutshall, and Jordana and Brielle Johnson; and great-grandchildren Kayla, Emerson, Henry, Delilah, Sophia and Casen Shearer, Samuel Witmer, and Aria Holman.

    She loved many things: a good joke and a strong sense of humor, talking with and catching up on the exploits of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neighbors, friends and family, finding the perfect gift, someone else’s cooking, tending to her gardens, a rousing game of Spades, and a great book. Up until her death she could readily recite her favorite Robert Frost and Longfellow poems and was very pleased that her grandchildren still needed to memorize them as well. She worked for many years at the Newville Shoe Factory and Georges Flowers in Carlisle, making many cherished friends and memories, with her job at Georges cementing her life-long adoration of all things floral.

    Her funeral service and celebration of life will be held at 2:00 PM on Friday May 12 at Zion Lutheran Church in Newville. Interment will be at the Newville Cemetery. A visitation with her family will be held from 1:00 PM until the time of the service.

    JoAnne is finally at rest, and we hold her close within us. Please also hold her close in your mind and your spirit. And let us find and encourage those gifts that make each of us special: not great deeds nor physical prowess, but the ineffable mystery and extraordinary beauty of the simple human heart. We love her dearly and will miss her profoundly.

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