Shay Stallings Memorial Scholarship Fund

Danny and I would like to thank everyone for their support during Shay's battle while at OU Medical Center, Children's Hospital in OKC, as well as those who were able to attend the services for Shay. Your love, prayers and support is what has gotten us through each day.

Danny's cousin, Rick Hughlett, was gracious enough to set up a Memorial Scholarship Fund in Shay's name for us. This fund will provide one scholarship annually to a Fair Grove High School graduate to attend Ozark Technical Community College while pursuing a degree in teaching, as Shay wanted to follow in his Uncle Chris' footsteps and become a teacher. Our goal is to raise $10,000 for this fund over the next year so that the interest from the fund can be used for the scholarship and it will live on and on...

If you would like to contribute to this fund, you can make checks payable to the "Shay Stallings Memorial Scholarship Fund" and mail them to Commerce Bank at 1345 E. Battlefield St., Springfield, MO 65804, please be sure and put "ATTN: Carolina Decker" on the envelope.

Again, we want to thank everyone for you continued prayers as we try to make sense of our loss, they are very much needed.
God Bless each of you!!
Love to all,
Danny and Christy Stallings

T-Shirts

If you are in the Fair Grove area and you ordered T-Shirts they will be available for pick up at Fair Grove High School.

Funeral Information and Obituary

Christian Shay Daniel Stallings, Fair Grove, Mo, passed away on Friday, December 18^th at the age of 17 at the University of Oklahoma Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City after complications due to heart surgery.

Shay was born December 4^th, 1992  in Oklahoma City to Daniel and Christy Stallings. Shay resided in Moore, Oklahoma, St. Petersburg, Florida, and most recently Fair Grove, Missouri.

Shay had a true passion for sports. In his youth Shay competed in football, wrestling, and his ultimate love, baseball. Shay’s ability to continue playing competitive sports was cut short due to a heart defect but Shay stayed active in sports watching college football along side his dad, rooting on the St. Louis Cardinals, and most recently filming Friday night football for the Fair Grove Eagles.

Most importantly Shay had a passion for the people around him. What people will remember most about Shay is his loving spirit. Shay would never forget to say thank you, tell you he loved you, and he never missed a chance to give someone a hug. Shay was good at a lot of things but he was great at being a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, a grandson and a friend. Shay loved his family and friends and they loved him.

Shay’s true character was revealed in the last few months of his life. Shay courageously battled a bacterial infection that attacked the organs in his body. Doctors and nurses alike were amazed at Shay’s strength and determination and would routinely shake their heads and state “this is one tough kid.” Despite the unfortunate circumstances Shay found himself in, he never complained. Even though Shay was gravely ill he would muster up all the energy he had to give you a thumb’s up. Shay is a champion and now a hero to many for his relentless effort to fight off a horrible infection. Shay will be greatly missed.

Shay is survived by his Parents Danny and Christy Stallings, Fair Grove, Mo, grandparents Jerry and Karen Lohr, St. Petersburg, Florida and Donald Stallings Fair Grove, Mo. Siblings Nickole Hanna, Tampa, Florida and Zayne Stallings, Fair Grove, Mo. Shay is also survived by a host of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Friends.

Shay is predeceased in death by a grandmother, Mary Stallings, 1996, an Uncle, Jerry Lohr, 2004 and a cousin, Joseph Jones, 2008.

Services for Christian Shay Daniel "Shay Boy" Stallings are set for Tuesday and Wednesday. The visitation will be Tuesday night from 6-8 at Greenlawn East. Greenlawn east is located just off of highway 65. In order to access Greenlawn you will exit off at Sunshine and make a right at Bedford (by Sam's club). Greenlawn is asking that we park on the Highway 65 side of the building.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon at the Fair Grove High School gymnasium. Regardless of how well you knew Shay we are inviting you to come celebrate Shay's life with us on Wednesday even if you only knew him through this blog. Shay's family has requested that service be kept casual. We are asking that everyone simply put on their purple. We want everyone to be comfortable and we want to celebrate in accordance to Shay's taste. Shay loved Fair Grove so it only makes sense that we surround him with the purple thunder.

The family will be wearing their Team Shay t-shirts. If you purchased a shirt I will have those available to you at school. If you have a Team Shay shirt feel free to wear that on Wednesday.

Initial Funeral Information

Don't know some of the specifics but wanted to go ahead and get some information out to folks since we have some that will be traveling.

The visitation will be held Tuesday night at one of the Greenlawn funeral homes. I will know the specifics of location and times sometime tomorrow.

The funeral will be held Wednesday afternoon at the Fair Grove High School gym. Shay's mom and dad felt that having the funeral in the gym was most fitting because of Shay's love for Fair Grove and the outpouring of support from the Fair Grove student body. Once again we have not determined a time but we will solidify that tomorrow as well. I do want to go ahead and start spreading the word to the fair Grove student body and the Fair Grove community about the funeral. We are going to take a little different approach than the norm. We really want to just celebrate Shay's life. Shay never really was one for dressing up so rather than getting all dressed up in our fancy pants we are asking that you simply pack the house in purple. Essentially we are asking the purple thunder to dress like they would for any sporting event. Now I guess all you okies who don't have purple can simply wear the Oklahoma Sooner crimson and cream, one of Shay's other loves ;)

If you are traveling from Oklahoma and need a place to stay please let me know and we will work on finding you a place. If you are looking for a hotel try to find something around I-44 and North Glenstone. This will put you in close proximity to both Fair Grove and the funeral home located in Springfield.

I will post the final times on Sunday. Thanks everybody!

Goodbye to a True Eagle Warrior

Dear Friends, Family, and Strangers,

Our little buddy Christian Shay Daniel Stallings went to be with Jesus at 8:30 this evening. Shay passed quickly with his family at his bedside.

I remember when I was coaching I would hear the words "its not whether you win or los but how you play the game." I thought to myself that has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. But now I know exactly what it means. Sometimes you can pour everything you have into preparing for a game and the results don't come out they way you like. Shay gave everything he had. He fought and fought and fought some more. Shay's mom and dad gave it everything they hand spending every waking moment at Shay's side. The student body, faculty, and Fair Grove community at large gave their time, money, and hearts. Likewise Shay's Moore, Oklahoma community gave everything they had helping support Shay and his parents while he was in Oklahoma. Shay's mom's Acosta Family gave everything as well.  Those of you reading this blog have prayed faithfully every night for Shay.

My point is this we can all rest in knowing we gave it all our. Shay fought like a champ and we were all there to help in some way. Great job team Shay. Through this we have all grown in our faith and we have grown as a family and we have grown as a school and community and we have grown as a body of believers. My pain is to intense to express but we all need to rest in knowing that like Shay we fought the good fight and there will come a day when we will stand with Shay next to our Lord and savior.

I will post funeral arrangements as they come available.  I do know that the services will be in Missouri.

God Bless

Story Time

We did not receive the results from the MRI tonight so there is not a lot to report. I want to take a few minutes to share a story with you. As we are now all in this together you know what we are experiecing right now. As I left Shay's room tonight something really neat happened.

I am continously amazed at the cast of characters God is using in Shay's story. He has used so many people in so many ways that I can't even describe. Tonight he used the most unlikely character to really enourage me in a time of need. As I was leaving the unit the ICU housekeeper approached me. She is an older lady who quietly comes in and cleans Shay's floor and then quietly leaves. She was very hard to understand but I was holding to her every word. She asked me are you that young mans brother pointing toward Shay's room. I said no mam that is my nephew. She said "well I just want you to know that I have worked in the hosptial for several years and I have never seen anyone go through what he has gone through. He is the toughest boy I have ever seen. I want you to know that God has his hands all over him. God is going to heal to him. I pray for that boy every night when I go home." We went on and had a conversation about Job and the trials he faced. Shamefully I never got her name but God used her tonight to lift my spirits. I don't know anything about this lady but I would ask that as you pray for Shay tonight pray for the Lord to bless the houskeeper from PICU in some way.

Friday will be a big day of news. Shay's vitals are stable and he looks great. He actually looks better than I have seen him look through this whole ordeal he just simply won't wake up. Please continue to pray for a postive MRI reading and for Shay to regain alertness. Blessing to all of you. 

Headed down for the MRI

We will be going down to the MRI in about 5 minutes..

Just wanted to let everyone know, will post more when we have some more information.

Thanks!