January 6 1947 June 30 2022
Obituary January 6, 1947 – June 30, 2022, Belleville, Michigan Jeanette Merriweather-Shane was born to Elnora and Granville Merriweather on January 6, 1947, in Chicago. She loved her family immensely and always spoke of the days growing up in South Haven near the Lake with her siblings. She appreciated the insight her brothers and sisters gave her into people and called them her best friends. After graduating from L.C. Mohr High School in 1965, she left Michigan to go to the “big, cool city of Chicago” where she always wanted to live, and “buy the baddest clothes”. She joined her sister Gertrude and brother Granville Jr. there and worked an excellent job at Spiegel’s, a popular mail order service company. She shared how this experience away from home gave her a taste of independence, as she navigated this big city, very different than where she came from. Jeanette took pride in how she caught ‘EL’ trains and transferred buses throughout the city to see family living there. After living in Chicago for a few years, she made the decision to go back to Michigan to attend secretarial school at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor. During that time, the U.S. government was starting a program called “Model Cities” to address social disparities for minorities in cities across the country. She began working as a secretary in the office of one of her brother Granville Jr.’s friends, Michael Shane. This began her involvement with the civil rights movement, and she became the President of ‘Ladies on Voter Education’ (L.O.V.E), a group of women who registered people to vote and take full advantage of the political process. These days taught her to be vocal, how to lead and how to listen. For years to come she participated in the encouraging of others to get involved in the political process with her husband, Michael Shane. Never underestimating the importance of education and being a strong student herself, Jeanette asked her guidance counselor “where the best school in Michigan was, because that is where she wanted to go,” and was told to transfer to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her proudest story to tell was how “she packed up her three little girls and came to Ann Arbor on her own,” once again stretching those muscles of independence. She attended “The U” and in 1980 Jeanette earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education and five years later a Master of Arts with a focus on Special Education from Eastern Michigan University. She was proud of being a Michigan Alumni, and you’d often see her in her maize and blue. In 1993 she earned a second Master of Arts from Eastern Michigan University in Guidance and Counseling. She taught emotionally impaired children for The State of Michigan for 37 years before retiring in August 2019. When reflecting on her choices she always spoke of how “God/Jesus, who are the head of her life, always directed her steps and brought her thus far.” Jeanette Shane was married to Michael Shane, Sr., whom she was with for 45 years before he proceeded her in death in 2015. She leaves behind many cherished loved ones: three beautiful daughters; Mekel (Michael) Spriggs, Marsha (Michael) Fields, and Marilene Shane all of Texas; four grandchildren: Malcolm and Mikayla Morgan, and Michael (Jr.) and Michelle Fields; five stepsons: Max (Wendy) Shane of NJ, Matthew Shane of Chicago, Marcellus Shane of IN, Mekael Shane of Chicago, Marcellas Reynolds of CA. She was one of twelve children and is survived by six siblings: Julia Ampey, Gertrude Brown, Minnie Merriweather, Janice Merriweather, Mable Merriweather, all of MI., and George Merriweather GA. and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. She is proceeded in death by her parents and five brothers: Joseph, James, Sam, Charles and Granville Jr. and stepson Michael Shane, Jr. Visitation will be held Friday, July 8, 2022 from 5-8pm at Stark Funeral Professionals, 101 S. Washington St. Ypsilanti. The Funeral Service will be held Saturday July 9, 2022 at 11:00am with family hour beginning at 10:00am at Second Baptist Church, 850 Red Oak, Ann Abor. Burial will take place in Lakeview Cemetery in South Haven, on Monday, July 11, 2022, time will be updated when confirmed. www.starkfuneral.com
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Jeanette Merriweather-Shane January 6 1947 June 30 2022.
Ochalek-Stark Funeral Home, Inc.
Death notice for the town of: Milan, state: Michigan