Willis Shanks Obituary

Major Willis Engle Shanks (USAF, Ret.) Mt. Pleasant - Major Willis Engle Shanks (USAF, Ret.), 84, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, husband of Anna Margarita Thomas Shanks, died Tuesday, July 3, 2018. His memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 7, 2018, in All Saints Lutheran Church, 2107 Highway 17 N, at 12:00 pm. Arrangements by J. HENRY STUHR, INC., MOUNT PLEASANT CHAPEL. Major Shanks was born August 9, 1933, in Wenatchee, Washington, the son of the late Willis Engle Shanks II and the late Viola Austin Shanks. He grew up in Seattle but attended The Stony Brook School, Long Island, NY, graduating Cum Laude in 1951. He served in the United States Air Force from 1951-1955 in Texas and Morocco, as a clerk typist. In 1955, he enrolled at the University of Washington and received a Bachelor of Architecture on 1961. He was commissioned in the USAF as a Civil Engineer, serving in Texas, Vietnam (823rd Red Horse), England, Montana, Thailand and Korea (554th Red Horse) and Missouri. From 1964-1967, the USAF sent him to the University of Texas for a Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning. He retired in 1977. In retirement, he served a four year tour on the USAF Retiree Council for Region XI, for GA, SC, NC and VA. In 1977 he joined the staff of the LCA in Building and Financing in New York City, where he met and married Anna Margarita Thomas. In 1988, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia with the ELCA. He was a member of All Saints Lutheran Church, Mt. Pleasant, The Military Officers Association of America and The Military Order of the World Wars. He served on his church council, the Advisory Board of Franke at Seaside and the Respite Care of Charleston Board. He is survived by his second wife of 40 years, Anna Margarita Thomas Shanks of Mt. Pleasant, SC and by his four sons by his first marriage, Alister Robertson Shanks and his wife, Anne, of Massachusetts, Willis Engle Shanks IV and his wife, Janie, of Louisiana, David Franklin Shanks and his wife, Marjorie, of Louisiana and Stephen Austin Shanks and his wife, Amy, of Alabama; five grandchildren, Christina Shanks Ocmand of Louisiana, Christopher Shanks of Alabama, Matthew Shanks of Colorado, Kendall Shanks Lusher of Alabama and Sydney Shanks Latimer of Alabama; and five great-grandchildren. CJ Ocmand and Brandon Ocmand both of Lousiana, Caleb Shanks, Adilynn Lusher and Emerson Kate Latimer all of Alabama. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Respite Care of Charleston, 1605 Harbor View Road, Charleston, SC 29412 /respitecarecharleston.org. A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston