Shannon Harris Geddie

Former Sterling Supervisor, Real Estate Broker

Shannon LaNelle Harris Geddie returned to the Lord on February 18, 2017 to be reunited with so many family members and friends. The daughter of James Carl "Bud" Harris and Mary Lois Shannon of George West, TX, she was born Sept. 20, 1939, and grew up on her parents' cattle ranch in south Texas.

An enthusiastic "free ranch hand," she developed a lifelong love of animals and a strong work ethic. Shannon was also an accomplished pianist and flutist with a deep appreciation for the arts and literature.

Shannon graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1961 with a degree in journalism. She worked as a reporter for the San Angelo Standard-Times and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. While in San Angelo, she met and married another reporter, John Geddie. The pair married in 1962 and had a son in 1971. After the family moved to Virginia in 1972, Shannon worked as a reporter at the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

When a resignation left a vacancy on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Shannon Geddie was voted in to complete the term, later winning a full term in the next election. This period saw the approval of several projects expanding the suburban areas of eastern Loudoun, including the plan to connect Algonkian Parkway to Fairfax County Parkway.

After her tenure on the board, Shannon became a real estate agent in Loudoun, constantly adding different initials to her name and certifications in the field. She was extremely proud of her work in real estate, saying that there was very little more satisfying than helping people find a home. She was most proud of working with families purchasing their first house.

Shannon was a working woman in a time when women were still marginalized in the workplace. She is remembered as a critical thinker with a sharp wit, but she was also quietly charitable and giving her to friends. A lifelong Christian, she was most recently a member of Temple Baptist Church in Herndon. At home, she played overindulgent parent to a son and a long list of dachshund puppies.

Shannon is survived by her son, John L. Geddie; mother, Mary Lois Schulz; and sister, Judy Pressley, as well as nephews, James and William Pressley. She was predeceased by her husband, John Jay Geddie, former editor of the Loudoun Easterner.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Sterling Library Advisory Board at 120 Enterprise Street, Sterling, Virginia, 20164, in memory of how strongly Shannon and her husband felt for the Sterling Park community and her own voracious appetite for reading.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24, at Colonial Funeral Home in Leesburg, 201 Edwards Ferry Road NE. Funeral services will be held in Beeville, Texas, at a later date. More information will be available at www.colonialfuneralhome.com .