William Thayer “Skip” Stalnaker of Springfield, Missouri, Class of 1958, former executive director of the Springfield, Missouri Boys & Girls Club, passed away Wednesday, June 12.

His wife, Barbara Annabelle Anderson Stalnaker, Class of 1960, passed away in 2012. Her parents were Charles and Gladys Anderson. Skip and Barbara were married August 6, 1960.

Their children are William Thayer Stalnaker II, Felicia Dawn Mackey, Tracy Lynn Adams and Joseph Carmine Stalnaker. They have eight grandchildren.

Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home in Springfield handled Barbara’s arrangements.

Skip was involved with the Boys Club for 40 years and became executive director in 1983 and kept the position until 2002.

The Springfield Boys Club began in 1938 when it was founded by Jennie Lincoln, wife of Juvenile Court Judge A.W. Lincoln. Springfield got its national charter in 1946.

Chip was a Fairmont State graduate who began his Springfield Boys Clubs association in 1962. Previously, Chip was Athletic Director in the Locust Valley, New York and Omaha Boys Clubs, Executive Director in Jacksonville Beach Boys Club in Florida and Unit Director in the Boys Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Other children of John Alfred and Roxie Fay Jordon Stalnaker are Rachel Vivian Stalnaker Sloan, Class of 1962; the late Dick Stalnaker, Class of 1965, who played both offense and defense on Monongah High football teams, had a Four States construction company and married Rose E. Martin Stalnaker; the late John A. Stalnaker and the late Wendell Stalnaker.

 

Those who married into the Stalnaker family included Marguerite Matthews Stalnaker, Class of 1964; and Sandra Campbell Stalnaker, Class of 1965.

 

Rachel posted:

“Today is a very hard day for me. I lost my last brother this morning. Everyone around here called him Skip.

“He was a good man who made a good impression on a lot of people. He worked for Boys Clubs of America for more than 40 years. Young men and women called him and visited him up until his passing.

“He will be greatly missed by a lot of people. I had four brothers and now I have none.

“In the past 3 1/2 months he had suffered a lot but now he's at peace and I for one will miss him so much. My heart is broken this morning and so is his family is in Missouri.

“You all who knew him knew what kind of a man he was. Say a prayer for him today and for the family.”