Mary Jo Shnell

Our beloved Mary Josephine "Jo" Hodge Shnell, a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, left this life to be with her Lord and Savior at 9:30 p.m. on September 3, 2014, in Nashville, TN. She was 66 years old, and had fought a long and courageous battle with cancer.

Jo was born August 4, 1948, in Gallatin, TN, to James and Marjorie (Fox) Hodge. As part of a military family, Jo spent her childhood in a variety of places, including Fukuoka, Japan, where she attended Itazuke High School. Her years in Japan were important throughout her life, as she played an active role in the Itazuke High School reunion group. As she did with most people she met, she counted the reunion group members among her family, where there always seemed to be room for one more in her boundless heart.

Jo graduated from Franklin County High School in Winchester, TN, and studied elementary education at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN, working as a schoolteacher before beginning a career in the insurance industry.

Jo married Don Shnell in 1977, and they were side by side until his death in 2011. Soon after, God ensured that she would meet and marry Lee Hensley, and their years together were filled with travel, laughter, family, friends, and love. She enjoyed nothing more than traveling to see friends, or playing a round of canasta with her children and grandchildren.

After living in Oklahoma City, she was a resident of Hobart, OK for the past 18 years, she was a member of the Hobart Church of Christ, and was, in the words of a friend, "a true sister in Christ." She served her community and her church throughout her life, working as a substitute teacher in the Hobart schools during her retirement years. Her love for and commitment to children and their families was another outgrowth of her kindness and concern for others. She also loved to garden, tending to her plants are surely as she tended to the people around her.

In 2006, Jo was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and she began the 8-year journey that brought her here. She began a blog about her journey called "She Lives," and chronicled the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and setbacks of her battle with the disease that would eventually take her from us. When it would have been easy to withdraw, she reached out. When it would have been easy to give up, she redoubled her efforts. When it would have been easy to be bitter, she expressed joy and gratitude for every single moment of her life, even the difficult ones. Her faith did not waver, and her love did not end, nor will it ever end for those who are lucky enough to be included in its warm circle.

While traveling to a reunion in Nashville, TN, Jo became very ill and went into the hospital, then to a hospice facility, where she passed from this world and into heaven, and the presence of God and the peace that must surely be waiting for one of His most precious children, and one of His brightest blessings to us all.

Jo was preceded in death by her parents, James and Marjorie (Fox) Hodge, her brother Jim Hodge, and her husband Don Shnell. She is survived by her husband Lee Hensley of Hobart, OK; her sisters, Ruthie Sweeney of Springville, TN and Beverlyn Hodge Schumann of Wichita Falls, TX ; her children, Patricia L. Oglesby of Oklahoma City, OK, Gretta J. DeSantis of Frankfort, KY, Jeff Willhelm of Las Vegas, NV , David Wilhelm of Norman, OK, and Gina Wilhelm of Scottsburg, IN, James Lupton of Oklahoma City, OK, Barbara Cordell of Norman, OK, and Lisa Hensley of Fort Worth, TX; her grandchildren Nate, Gabe, Sadie, Mason, Grace, and Rayne Oglesby, Garrett Jonte', Elena DeSantis, Bruce, Erica, Janelle, and Jessie Wilhelm, Kyle, Elise, and Ethan Harrison, Crystal Rios, Andrea Lozano, and Lauren Lupton.

There will be a memorial service celebrating the life of Mary Josephine Hodge Shnell on Saturday, September 13, at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Christ, 202 South Washington Street, Hobart, OK 73651. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the MAGIC Foundation () a charity that provides children with medical treatment for Turner Syndrome and other conditions, in the name of her granddaughter, Elena DeSantis.

The family would like to give thanks for the outpouring of love and support that we have received in our time of need. Jo will be with us always.