Warren and Susan Shake devote their lives to service

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A Linton couple devotes their golden years to bringing light to others.

Warren and Susan Shake of Linton help several charities in Greene County, one of the reasons they were nominated as Difference Makers by Dorothy Shertzer.

Mr. Shake was ordained as a minister in 2006 and has been assistant minister at Linton First Christian Church since then.

“I’ve got a certificate,” he laughed. That was awarded by Lincoln Christian College in 2003.

When the Daily World interviewed the Shakes, he was bundling donated clothes into trash sacks at the church. Those clothes and other items go to the Linton Food and Clothing Pantry.

“Sometimes we get a pickup load.”

He and his wife had also helped gather stacks of potato chips and water. They were handed out for lunch after last Sunday’s service at the city park.

Mr. Shake helps tend the grounds at the church and makes visits to nursing homes and hospitals. His wife takes care of the Greeters Program each Sunday, helps prepare funeral dinners and takes a hand with Vacation Bible School

His wife pointed out that’s only part of his service. She said he works with other men to build ramps for people who need them. Although he lends a hand, Mr. Shake laughed that he is not a carpenter; he just organizes the work.

He leads prayer and a small group meeting on Wednesday nights. Mr. Shake also teaches the Berean Sunday School class in rotation and preaches the regular sermon when needed. He is on rotation for Sunday services at Glenburn Nursing Home.

Tuesday is a busy day for the Shakes as they work for Prime Timers, a group of elderly worshipers. Mr. Shake preaches a sermon for them while Mrs. Shake leads them in singing.

They take the Prime Timers out on field trips, letting them enjoy visiting places they haven’t seen in a while such as Bloomfield, the Tulip Trestle, and Solsberry. They said the Prime Timers laugh and laugh to visit places they haven’t seen in decades. Visits to restaurants are an added bonus.

“You take your seniors out and they get to do things they did 30 or 40 years ago,” Mr. Shake said.

“If you take them to a good restaurant,” he added, “they don’t care about anything else in here. It’s nothing really spectacular, ... but they tell their friends they got to do something that no one else got to do.”

On Thursdays, the Shakes volunteer at Autumn Trace, another community for seniors. Once again, he preaches a sermon and she leads the singing.

They also aid the young people of the county. Mr. Shake is chairman of the board of Open Arms Christian Ministries which manages a home for girls under 18 who have been through desperate times. Mr. Shake said Open Arms is working to open a similar home for boys in Lyons, having acquired the former Lyons Health and Living Center. He said the homes are intended for kids who are in bad situations or dealing with the results of bad decisions.

“You see younger kids getting in trouble and just getting away,” he said.

Mr. Shake drives a bus for the Marsh Madness tour every year. He said he does his best to make it fun for the tourists who tour the Goosepond to see the birds and other animals.

He organizes the Winter Walk at Linton-Stockton Elementary School. He helps Lisa Ball with the Christmas decorations at the park, helping get the materials and feeding the offenders to do the decorating.

Mrs. Shake devotes two days a week to the Family Life Center in Bloomfield where she cooks lunches and staffs the reception desk. Mrs. Shake also works for the local Right to Life chapter.

“We stay very active,” she said.

Each January, they organize a rib dinner for all law enforcement officers in Greene County and employees of the prosecutor’s office. In addition to ribs, the meal includes other viands like baked potatoes and green beans.

“That’s our program,” Mrs. Shake said. “We bring them in, let them eat, and tell them we appreciate what they do.”

The Shakes have been married for 41 years. Mrs. Shake has resided in the Linton area “pretty much all my life,” first living on a farm north of town and then moving into Linton. Mr. Shake was “a transplant from Sandborn” in his wife’s words, and they met when he joined the church. Before that he attended the Sandborn Methodist Church.

“I got him on the straight and narrow,” she said.

However, he did attend L&M school. Mr. Shake reminisced that he went there after the old Lyons school burned down, and he spent a year at a substitute school, the American Legion post.

After they married, he farmed for a while.

Their lives are not solely devoted to ministering to others. They have two daughters, Mrs. Jennifer Gilbert and Ms. Jodi Shake, both members of First Christian.

“We babysit our grandkids once in a while,” Mrs. Shake said. “Spending time with family, that’s always been important to us.”

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  • I'm glad to see them recognized. They do so very much!

    -- Posted by robinsong1 on Wed, Sep 18, 2019, at 9:45 PM
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