LaJuana Ruth Shaver

MANSFIELD, LA--Funeral services honoring the life of LaJuana Shaver will be held Friday, July 27, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church of Mansfield, Louisiana with Father Richard Norsworthy and Father James Moran officiating. Burial will follow at Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Carmel, Louisiana. Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. until time of service with the Rosary at 9:00 a.m. Our wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and joyful friend, LaJuana Ruth Lee Shaver, died peacefully in the early morning of July 25. She was 77 years old. She is preceded in death by her mother, Lucille Dill Lee; her father, Frank M. Lee; and brother, Frank Jerry Lee. She is survived by her husband Vance Shaver, her son Lee Morgan Shaver and wife Kim, granddaughter, Allison Shaver, sister-in-law, Fannie Shaver, nephews, Shane Lee, Shawn Lee, and Steve Shaver, niece, Robin Ricks and 2 great nephews. She was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Mansfield. LaJuana was born in Mansfield, Louisiana on March 28, 1941 and grew up in the community of Carmel, Louisiana where her ancestors had been longtime residents and participants in that early and active Louisiana settlement. One of the treasures of that community was The Little Rock Chapel. LaJuana spent much of her time with other Carmel children playing in the woods around the chapel. She and her husband Vance eventually became the caretakers of this beloved chapel. LaJuana attended Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Carmel until it combined its congregation with that of St. Joseph\'s Catholic Church in Mansfield. At both churches, LaJuana was fervent in her practice and beliefs and was, from a very young age, active in dedicating herself to corporeal acts through caring and cleaning the altar cloths of the church, cooking and serving at the famous Catholic Church Spaghetti and Gumbo dinners, and wonderfully decorating the church for Easter and Christmas. Her work did not go unnoticed; she received the Bishop's Medal of Honor in recognition of her work in the church parish. After LaJuana graduated from Beauty School, she began her own beauty shop at home in Carmel. She brought her sense of good friendships and that laughter to her shop. Men may have gathered around old wood stoves musing over random thoughts, but at LaJuana\'s beauty shop, women danced in their souls. LaJuana made sure her life was filled with laughter and friends. And her friends complied. They all also look back at the days of relaxing with her and Vance at their camp on Clear Lake. She was caretaker for family and friends, cooking and delivering meals, making sure hospital and doctor appointments were made and gotten to. She loved her pond and all the animals, fish, and flowers that made their home around it. And most of all, she loved her family. She loved the "pickin\' and grinnin\'" group that her husband Vance put together. She loved partnering with him in keeping up the Rock Chapel, helping him in his Deaconess duties at the Carmel Baptist Church, and most of all in bringing up their son, Lee Morgan, who eventually became Mansfield\'s Fire Chief, much to her pride and joy. Honoring LaJuana as pallbearers will be Otis Calhoun, Lonnie DeSoto, Tommy Mason, Justin Taylor, Don English, and Trey Lewis. All LaJuana's family and friends wish her eternal happiness and peace. The family would like to express great appreciation to the staff at DeSoto Rehab and Superior Hospice for their care during LaJauna's illness. In lieu of flowers the family suggest memorial donations be made to the Rock Chapel Fund or the Carmel Cemetery Fund.