Barbara Jeanne Shuck

1936 - 2026

Barbara Jeanne Epley-Shuck, 89, of Whitesboro, NY, passed away on Saturday, January 31, 2026, while surrounded by her loving family.

Born November 28, 1936, in the prairies of Nebraska during the dustbowl years and after the banks failed, Barbara learned early that life would be full of challenges. By the time she turned 7, the family had moved to Washington, DC, Denver and then back to Nebraska. Her parents, Elden and Clara Epley, both worked World War II jobs at the Hastings Ammunition Depot while Barbara stayed so much with her grandparents that she became their "cherished daughter." She enjoyed life on the farm and on a ranch in the sandhills of Nebraska before she graduated from high school. By age 17, Barbara was teaching at a country school with 10 pupils from kindergarten through eighth grade. She went on to graduate from Hastings College with a BA degree, majoring in elementary education with minors in music and English.

After teaching grade school music one year in Superior, NE, she married Elmer E. (Jim) Shuck, her husband for 48 years, before he died in 2006. Jim finished his physics degree at the University of Nebraska after they married. She had planned to teach school in Lincoln but was not allowed to do so because she was pregnant with their first child, and instead got a job as secretary to the University's mechanical engineering department and earned a journalism scholarship. She graduated with an advanced journalism degree and was a member of two journalism honoraries, Kappa Tau Alpha and Theta Sigma Phi. She was named the University's Woman Journalist of the Year and her work as a newspaper photographer/reporter and as an interviewer/researcher for programs at the Kellogg Center helped supplement their college income. Earlier, as a teenager, she wrote a Meet the Teens column for the Nebraska Farmer and religious devotions for Power, a youth magazine. Throughout her lifetime, she edited many newsletters for groups and published freelance articles.

In 1961, both she and Jim graduated and he was offered a job with General Electric in Utica, New York where they moved and lived for the rest of their lives. While raising her 3 sons, she still found time for volunteer work, which included serving as Parents Club President, a den mother for 5 years and a Sunday School teacher. She also had a board position with the YWCA, which evolved into a 10-year commitment writing news articles and appearing on radio and TV. She was proud to have a hand in the addition of their services for domestic abuse and rape crisis. She also served as vice president on the board of the League of Women Voters and as President of the American Association of University Women.

Upon leaving the YWCA, she devoted her time and energy to mission work at First Presbyterian Church at the time they started their community Thanksgiving dinner (she coordinated 3 of them), the food pantry and other community services. She became moderator of Presbyterian Women in her church and Presbytery. During this time, she was one of five honored in the Utica area for women helping women. She preached her first sermon as a commissioned lay preacher in 1990 and continued substitute work in churches for over thirty years. In other church work, she was elected moderator of the Synod of the Northeast PCUSA (1999-2001), and Presbyterian Women's Global Exchange person, spending 3 weeks in the Middle East in 1999. When she returned home, she traveled all over the Northeast talking to church groups about her experiences. She was also President of New York Church Women United and served on the CWU national board as Northeast representative.

Her faith, family, and friends were all so important to her. Barbara was preceded in death by her husband, Jim and granddaughter, Sarah. She is survived by her sons Douglas (wife, Leigh) of Bowers Beach, DE, Bruce (wife, Dawn) of Stittville, NY, and Michael (wife, Erin) of Pasadena, MD; grandchildren Dan (wife, Traci), Brian (wife, Cori), Brady, Greg, Brandon, Aidan, Ryan and Marissa; great-grandchildren, Leo and Ava; and sister, Vicki Harvey of Greeley, NE.

Barbara strove to live her life according to Micah 6:8: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy (be kind), and walk humbly with your God." The evidence that she succeeded is overwhelming when you talk to the people who knew her.

A Memorial Service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 1 Elm Street, Whitesboro, NY, on Saturday, March 21st at 11 am, followed by a reception at the church.

Memorial donations to the First Presbyterian Church, the Abraham House, the Utica YWCA, or the Heifer Project would be greatly appreciated.

Arrangements are under the direction of McGrath, Myslinski, Kowalczyk & Nunn Funeral Directors, 470 French Road, Utica.

Messages of sympathy at www.mmknfd.com