WEBSTER– Reverend Archie Rex Shanks, 81, of 21 Lake St., died Tuesday, May 23, in UMass/Memorial Healthcare after an illness.
He leaves his wife of 9 years, Dorothy J. (Latour) Shanks; 2 brothers, Richard G. Shanks of Houston and Cloyd M. Shanks of Midland, TX; a sister. Judith A. Parshall of Clearmont, Missouri; a stepdaughter, Catherine M. Przybylek of Webster; 2 step grandsons; nephews and nieces. A brother, Lloyd B. Shanks, died in 2003.
He was born in Jasper, Missouri and raised in Baxter Springs, Kansas, the son of Louis and Julia (Mitchell) Shanks. He lived all over the world, moving here in 1997.
He was an Army veteran of World War II, serving in Southern France, the Ardennes, the Rhineland and Central Europe.
He graduated from the high school in Riverton, Kansas in 1942. He studied at Pittsburg State College in Pittsburg, Kansas, and then earned a degree at the University of Kansas in 1962. He also did pre-doctoral studies. He also was awarded an honorary doctorate from the seminary in Hyderabad, India in 1994, and received many other religious rewards and commendations.
He was an office specialist at IBM in Tulsa, OK from 1953 to 1958. He then taught business subjects before becoming principal of Desoto Elementary/Junior High from 1962 to 1966. He was then appointed superintendent of schools in Baldwin City, Kansas, from 1966 to 1968. He worked as a personnel administrator in hospitals from 1968 to 1978. He was the headmaster at Oxford Park Academy in Overland Park, Kansas from 1978 to 1982. He then studied at the International Ministerial Fellowship in Minneapolis, becoming a clergyman in 1986.
Rev. Shanks had a full time healing ministry in the Crown of Life Ministries, which brought him all over the world. He led a congregation here for many years. He was the author of three books and a manual about deliverance and healing. In his later years, he was a member of the Faith Assembly of God.
The funeral will be held Tuesday, May 30, at 11:00 AM in the Sitkowski & Malboeuf Funeral Home, 340 School Street. Burial, with full military honors, will be held at 2:00 PM Tuesday in the Mass. Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Winchendon. Calling hours will be from 6:00 to 9:00 PM Monday, May 29, in the funeral home. Flowers may be sent or donations made to Crown of Life Ministries, PO Box 24, Franklin, NC 28744.