Shanna Lee Gause

On January 14, 2022 after a long battle with Dementia, Shanna Lee (Richards) Gause passed away in the home she shared with her husband, Neil, for the last 29 years.

Shanna was born on August 25, 1953 to Darrell and Lydia Richards in Ashton, Idaho. She is the 2nd of 5 children. Her family lived on a farm in Chester, Idaho and when she was 5 years old, they moved to a stake farm in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She later moved with her family to Utah. In a journal entry retelling her childhood, Shanna notes they had their own color T.V. when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Her older sister Ronna recounts that Shanna was their dad’s favorite and the apple of his eye. So if all the kids wanted to do something, they would send Shanna to ask dad knowing he would tell her ‘yes’. Starting in 6th grade, Shanna helped sweep the floors in elementary schools after school to earn $25 per month, which she used to purchase school clothes. She continued after-school jobs through 11th grade. She was a hard worker and never shirked from jobs that took muscle. She first attended Granger High School, but her family moved to Sandy, Utah when she was a Sophomore. In Sandy, she started at Jordan High School and a boundary change moved her to Hillcrest High School, where she graduated in 1971.

She married Stuart Nielsen, and they welcomed their baby, Laura, in October 1980. To say she created her own best friend with her daughter is an understatement. She and Stuart divorced. However, within a few short years she met the love of her life, Neil Gause, and they married on June 18, 1988. The love she had for Neil is the kind of love everyone dreams of. Shanna’s second baby, Eric, came in October 1989 to complete their perfect family.

Shanna’s greatest blessing is her family, and she gave all she had to them. However, her service didn’t end there. Shanna so often went out of her way to help others. She spent many hours keeping total strangers’ gravesites clean. She took pictures to capture memories for everyone around her, and if she didn’t know you she got an email address so she could send them to you later. She offered rides and laundry service to poor college kids, and food to ballroom dance members. Nobody ever left her house hungry. She fed everyone: family, friends, garbage men, road construction workers, and delivery drivers. Almost always it was one of her famous peanut butter, honey, and apple sandwiches.

If you ask anyone that has ever met Shanna they would tell you of her never ending kindness. She made friends wherever she went; oftentimes in the most unexpected people. She loved unconditionally, without judgement. She never had a mean thing to say about anyone; unless you count accidentally reading lips during the super bowl. Which was followed by an apology, and a scarlet blush, of course! When out to eat, without fail, she’d help clean the table, and would thank the kitchen staff since not many people think about thanking them.

Shanna enjoyed raising chickens, taking photos of sunsets, coloring and painting, and she made lifelong friends working at OC Tanner. If you asked her, though, she would say her greatest accomplishment was raising her two children and becoming a grandma.

Shanna made life so much brighter. Birthday cards were guaranteed to have a candle flame over the “i”. She loved drawing a sun with smiling eyes and mountain scenery for her grandkids. Even folding a facial tissue to make a bundled baby to rock-a-bye to distract kids without toys. All these things, and so much more, will be missed greatly.

Shanna is preceded in death by her father, Darrell Richards, and her mother, Lydia Richards. She is survived by her husband Neil Gause of Sandy, Utah; her daughter Laura (Jonathan) Coleman of Stansbury Park, Utah; her son Eric (Anastasia) Gause of Woods Cross, Utah; her granddaughters Callista, Arya, Emma, and Jessica, and her grandsons Elijah, Jacob, and Ezra; her sisters Ronna, Debora, and Jena; her brother Jedd (Loni); as well as many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Shanna’s name to Neighborhood House Adult Daycare, (https://nhutah.org/donatenh). They took such good care of Shanna during the day over the years.

Help can be given to a stranger, and thanks can be said to someone that doesn’t hear it enough.

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