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Obituary for Dr. Shannon B. Jones
Dr. Shannon B. Jones, PhD
Shannon Britton Jones of Littleton, Colorado, died July 30, 2015 from an extremely rare form of cancer, Chondrosarcoma. She dealt valiantly with the disease for nearly three years until it overwhelmed her totally and took her life. She passed away peacefully with her family close at her side. Shannon is survived by her loving husband, Jason Bardales, devoted daughter Abigail (Abbie) Bardales, her parents Alan and Laura Jones of Bedford, IA, sister Leslie Jones, brother-in-law Dalton Webster, and nephew Connor Webster of Lakewood, Colorado.
Shannon was born March 19th, 1963 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to parents Alan and Laura Jones. During her elementary and high school years Shannon attended school in Eldridge, Iowa; Fenton, Michigan; Stevensville, Michigan; Pekin, Illinois; Pontiac, Illinois; Manchester, Missouri (suburb of St. Louis); and Toledo, Ohio. Throughout her educational years even with all of the disruptions of moving she was an excellent student manifested not only by grades received but also by showing an avid interest in reading and demonstrating a very wide vision of circumstances encountered in everyday life.
Shannon showed an unusual talent for art early in life and was encouraged to pursue that interest, which ultimately led her to selecting to attend the University of Denver in 1981. There she was able to engage herself in discovering and expanding her natural talent and love for art. She immersed herself in the joy of discovering multiple vehicles for expression. Shortly after graduating with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Art in 1985, she realized that her interests were in the inspiration and fostering the love of learning in children.
While working as a Media Art coordinator in Denver she met her partner for life, Jason Bardales, originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, a graduate of Iowa State University. They shared many common interests including music, entertaining friends and family and simply being together. In October of 1987, they married and shared the loving gift of companionship for over 27 years.
Shannon joined the Ricks Center for Gifted Children, located on the campus of the University of Denver, in its early years, helping to build its reputation through the years and touching countless lives of children, parents, and teachers in the Ricks Center community. She relished the opportunity to connect with young minds as a teacher and identify each child’s passion and spur it on. She thrived in that environment for almost a decade until Abbie arrived into her life.
In July 1996, her world expanded as she became an adoring and nurturing mother to Abbie. She was able to see everything she loved come to life through Abbie. She looked forward to celebrating holidays and events with those around her with a creative flair, enjoyed by many throughout the years. Shannon found joy in the creative experience of life and her connections with family and friends. Together she and Jason made raising Abbie their central focus and adjusted both their work schedules for one of them to always be at home, forgoing the use of daycare. The commitment to raise Abbie alone, without any childcare assistance, no matter the sacrifice, professionally or financially, exemplified their selflessness and their commitment to honor their family.
Wanting her family to be her primary focus, Shannon made the difficult decision to leave the classroom environment and apply her skills to the school as an administrator. She found that while she missed the opportunity to work with a classroom of children individually that she was actually able to connect with a larger audience. Her gift of connecting and uncovering an individual’s hidden talent or passion, was now tapping into the staff she was guiding as well as more parents and all Ricks children. She went from being a cherished gem to a select classroom, to being a sought-after treasure that enriched many.
While working in the field of gifted education Shannon continued her education and received her Master of Arts degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 1993 and earned her Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Gifted Education in 2012. All her college degrees were accomplished at the University of Denver.
While she never sought out the spotlight, Shannon received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Colorado Association of Gifted and Talented as well as the Considine Excellence in Teaching Award. She served as adjunct faculty for the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver, specializing in the Curriculum and Instruction division teaching courses in Creativity, Gifted Education, Early Childhood, and Curriculum. She spoke often at conferences, locally, nationally and internationally and had publications including articles in Roeper Review, IAGC Journal, Open Space Communicator, and integrated curriculum units on Africa, Australia, Natural Disasters, Oceans, Circus, Maya, Passion Pursuits, and Architecture. In addition she also served as a guest lecturer for school districts, university classes, and private schools.
Shannon was a passionate educator dedicated to gifted education, but also enjoyed expressing herself creatively and artistically, utilizing as many mediums as possible. She embraced an incredible amount of joy exploring and teaching others various venues including watercolor, Zentangle, collage, quilting, sewing, clay, hand painted clothing, glass, cooking, altered books, book making, jewelry making, artist trading cards and scrapbooking. Additionally her diverse talents included an extraordinary skill for pie making and parallel parking.
The impact Shannon had in life was profound; she was compassionate, caring and extremely insightful to everyone around her.
For those wishing to attend, a service will be held on August 22, 2015 at 1:00pm. It will be at the Chapel at Ellis Family Service, 13436 West Arbor Place, Littleton, CO 80127; 720-344-8565.
For anyone wanting to honor Shannon, we have established the Shannon B. Jones Passion Pursuit; an endowment fund to continue her joy of encouraging the love of learning with children. Each year, a student at The Ricks Center for Gifted Children will be identified to receive this gift to be used towards the development of their inherent passion to learn about a specific area of interest. In addition, an adult who is a part of the Ricks community is co-chosen with the student to explore and expand the student’s passion. Donations can be made through the University of Denver’s donation page www.giving.du.edu or by check to the following address:
University of Denver Attn: Gift Processing P.O. Box 910585 Denver, CO 80291-0585
The check can be made to or include: DU/RicksCenter/Shannon’s Passion Fund #40017447
