Nell Shanks Reynolds
Nell Shanks Reynolds
June 19, 1938 — January 3, 2020
Nell Shanks Reynolds, of Burnet, passed away Jan. 3, 2020, after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 81.
Nell was born June 19, 1938 in Abilene, the daughter of Ora Nell (Hughes) and Homer Kuykendall Shanks and the second of five children. The family moved to San Antonio when Nell was a small child and she grew up there, being graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School. She attended San Antonio College and Mary Hardin-Baylor University (then Mary Hardin-Baylor College), where she received her bachelor’s degree in English. She received a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Corpus Christi State University and a second master’s degree, this one in educational administration, from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
She taught English and French at the secondary and post-secondary levels in San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Beeville and after retiring as a teacher worked for the Texas Education Agency in Austin.
As a teacher in Corpus Christi, she was a finalist in the competition for editor of the nationwide English teachers’ journal and was chosen to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities-sponsored seminar in France on the German occupation of France in World War II.
Although Nell did not quilt herself, she admired quilts and quilters and found it difficult to pass a quilt shop without at least dropping in to say hello.
She also was an avid reader, with eclectic tastes.
Nell was a fourth-generation Texan and delighted in being able to trace her Texas ancestry back more than 150 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents; and two brothers, Homer Jr. (Mickey) and Marcus. She is survived by her husband, Phil; her son, Phil Jr. (Desree); brother, Bill; and sister, Carol Ann (Larry) Bellomy; as well as several nieces; nephews; three granddaughters; two great-grandsons; and a great-granddaughter.
She will rest at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University in San Marcos. No services are planned.
