Shannon Elizabeth Canty – born on July 6, 1969 died on September 27, 2019 at the age of 50 due to complications from Huntington’s Disease. She went by Shannon Bates during her marriage, and returned to her maiden name following her divorce in 2016. Like her mother, she was in the Brain Bank Program within the Movement Disorders Group at Barnes Hospital for further research to cure HD. Since the late 1990’s, researchers found the gene that causes the inherited disease and work continues to find a treatment or cure. One drug candidate recently began Phase III of clinical trials.

Shannon was preceded in death by her mother, Martha, at age 70 (October 15, 2013) and is survived by her father Thomas (Tom), brother Scott (sister-in-law, Katie), aunt Barbara Gossow/Uncle Robert (Bob) – St. Charles, cousins Ellen (Lockhart – Phoenix, AZ), Douglas Gossow, Amy (VanRy – Brooklyn, NY), Mark and Matthew (who also has HD) – Weeks, Indianapolis, IN, and the Kastner family in Hot Spring Village, AR. She is also survived by her second Labrador Retriever, Chloe, who has found a home with her long-term dog walker, Andrew McKinley.

Services will be held in the Watson Chapel at the Bonhomme Presbyterian Church (14820 Conway Road Chesterfield, MO) on Sunday, October 20th at 2:00pm with the help of Lynn Packwood. To remember Shannon, if so inclined, a contribution in her name can be made to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (3286 Ivanhoe, St. Louis, MO 63139). Researchers are ever so close to finding a possible cure.

Shannon’s primary education was in the Parkway School District, as we lived first in Oak Tree Farms and then Chesterfield Hill. She graduated from Parkway Central High School in 1987 with many academic recognitions, including membership in the National Honors Society. One of the highlights of her high school years was hosting a French foreign exchange student and the reciprocal visit to France. Those years of French came in handy. In the awards ceremony prior to graduation it was noted that she had been designated a Grannon Scholar at DePauw University. She was awarded a $4,000 scholarship and admitted to The Management Fellows program. Besides hitting the books in high school, she enjoyed horses, like her mother did, and took lessons in hunter/jumper riding (see picture).

She began her college studies at DePauw in International Business but changed her major to English Literature. She always enjoyed reading, nurtured by her mother and the summer reading program of the St. Louis County Library District. During the summers and holiday breaks, she worked at the Tartan Corner at Plaza Frontenac (see picture). She also went on a charity work trip to Mexico (see picture with two children). As part of the Management Fellows program, she did an internship between her junior and senior years in Cleveland, Ohio (her mother’s home town) at Penton Publishing whose market was industry specific magazines. In 1991, she graduated Cum Laude from DePauw with a BA in English Literature. Activities in college included her sorority (Alpha Gamma Delta), student government, and the Management Fellows program.

After graduation, she started her professional career in publishing at Mosby (where her mother worked in customer service) editing medical related publications. She moved into an apartment with friends in University City and later Richmond Heights before changing directions and joining The StayWell Company in support of the American Red Cross. She moved to the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia and was welcomed by having her car stolen in November, 1994. But there was also an addition – her first Labrador Retriever – a yellow lab she named Clementine. Her love of dogs began with her help selecting the Canty family’s first dog, Rascal, a West Highland White Terrier, the first in a line that continues with the 5th, Johnston (Johnny). As her work became more focused on The American Red Cross, she moved to the Washington, DC area, first to Takoma Park, MD and later she bought a condo in Lake Ridge, VA overlooking the Occoquan River. She met her future husband through their work related to The American Red Cross and their mutual love of Labrador Retrievers. After marriage, they bought a house in Burke, VA. With job changes they moved to St. Louis, first living with her brother until they bought a house in the Thousand Oaks subdivision in Chesterfield.

Shannon was recognized many times with awards, plaques, and most importantly bonuses for her work on The Red Cross account. (See picture with Elizabeth Dole when she was retiring as President of The American Red Cross.)

Shannon started showing increased signs of Huntington’s in late 2013/early 2014. Work became more difficult and she applied for disability. After her divorce, family and specialists tried to convince her to move from her two-story house with many steps to a care facility where her health and well-being would be more secure. She would have none of it! She was always smart and stubborn, so we followed her wishes. She wanted to stay in her house and have the comfort and independence with family, friends, and neighbors, plus walk her dogs as long as she could. Earlier this year, Hana had health problems and had to be put down. We insisted that she have help taking care of her basic needs, plus the house and yard, in addition to wearing a medical alert device and daily phone calls to her father. We expected there would eventually be an accident or fall, but we continued to follow her wishes. Her fall on August 22nd was probably the 4th or 5th that we were aware of. Shannon was a very private person. The severity of this fall resulted in a 911 call and a trip to the emergency room. Paramedics decided a trauma center was required because of facial fractures and her being uncommunicative and uncooperative. She had surgery that evening, followed by a three week stay at Mercy Hospital with no cooperation and no recovery. After reviewing Shannon’s health care directive with the various professionals at Mercy, it was concluded that given her lack of recovery and refusal of any additional treatment or food, we had to follow her wishes and the temporary feeding tube would be removed when she was released from Mercy to a care center. She was transferred to Garden View Care Center in Chesterfield on September 14th with instructions to keep her comfortable and free of pain. After visits from clergy, family, neighbors, family friends, high school and college friends throughout the entire hospital and care center stay, but especially on Friday, September 27th. She died peacefully sometime that evening between 9:00 – 9:30pm. The family was together for steak night, a long standing tradition on Friday nights, when we were notified.

Shannon enjoyed family, friends, neighbors, her dogs, her work, hiking, national parks, travel, dog walking, book clubs, concerts, stage shows, popular and country music, sports – obviously the Cardinals (see picture with her favorite player, Willie McGee, at spring training) and most recently celebrated the Blues winning their first Stanley Cup, and lastly making dinner reservations. She made friends easily and once a friend, always a friend.