Jowannah Shackelford

Jowannah Shackelford, 77, of Pampa, TX passed away on November 1, 2024, with both of her children holding her hands.

Celebration of life services will be 10:00 AM, Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at the Carmichael-Whatley Colonial Chapel with Pastor Jim Sinyard of the Carpenters Church, officiating. Burial will follow at the Mobeetie Cemetery under the direction of Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors and Crematory.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM, Tuesday at the funeral home.

Jowannah was born on May 8, 1947, to Bill and Mary McDowell in Pampa, TX, where she was a lifelong resident. Jowannah entered the workforce at a young age starting with working in the kitchen at the Pampa Country Club. A few years later is when she met her true love, John “Sam” Shackelford. They later married on September 23, 1966. In this union, they started their family having two children, Sammy and Beth, and shared over 58 years of marriage before Sam’s passing three weeks ago on October 12, 2024.

Jowannah also worked for Marie Foundation for several years before she started her true calling by helping the elderly and then later nursing. She sat and cared for many people over the years before she went back to school to get her nursing degree. In 1993, she graduated from the nursing program and then went to work for the Pampa Regional Hospital where she could continue caring for those in need. Caring for the elderly and sick was not her only focus, she was an amazing caregiver to her family, friends and the neighborhood children.

Jowannah loved to go dancing with her husband whenever they could. She always supported her family with what they wanted to do, from Sam playing in the band, Sammy in boy scouts & Beth in girl scouts, both children in FFA, and the school bands. She loved cooking and baking. She will always be remembered for her delicious homemade cakes, banana pudding, cinnamon rolls, fudge and other various treats on birthdays and at Christmas time. 

Jowannah made sure all of her family knew the teachings of Christ. Her family and her faith were the center of her world.

 Jowannah will be remembered as a loving and selfless wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend who always put others before herself, and she will be greatly missed.

 The family would like to extend gratitude to Cathy Mendoza, Tristian Hux, and Maureen Cerzantes, and to the family's longtime friends, Interim Hospice employees, Jonna Jones and Trina Doan Allen, for their loving care of Jowannah.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband; parents; a brother, Billy Ray McDowell; and a sister, Mary Annette Hunter.

 Jowannah is survived by a son, Sammy Shackelford and wife Leslie, of Pampa; a daughter, L. Beth Shackelford, of Pampa; a grandson, Johnathen Shackelford, of Pampa; a brother, Rodney McDowell, of Lefors; a brother-in-law, Jim Borger, of Lafayette, Louisianna; her dog, Dixie; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

 Memorials can be made to Shriners Children’s Hospital, 815 Market St, Galveston, TX 77550, American Lung Association, 55 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60601; or the Panhandle Independent Living Center, 417 SW 10th Ave, Amarillo, TX 79101.