Shuffield

Lynna Kay Shuffield, an award-winning historian, preservationist, author, editor and genealogist, died Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, in Houston following a two-year illness. She was 61.

Graveside services were held Wednesday, Dec. 19, at Earthman Resthaven Cemetery in Houston.

Ms. Shuffield was born Feb. 3, 1957, in Houston.

She graduated in 1975 from Sam Houston High, a school for which she later researched a Texas Historical Marker.

She received degrees in 1979 from the University of Houston-Down-town and Rice University’s Navy ROTC program as a dual-enrolled student.

A certified paralegal, Ms. Shuffield worked in the Real Estate arena of the City of Houston Legal Department until her retirement earlier this year.

In 2016, she received the city’s Bravo Award for her exceptional work above and beyond the call of duty.

She was a former major in the State Military Forces of Texas, having graduated from the Military Police Officer Basic & Advance Courses and the U.S. Marine Corps Command & General Staff Course.

Ms. Shuffield documented burials across Texas and posted the information gathered at the

website findagrave.com, adding descriptions of 6,573 memorials.

She was raised in the Baptist church and was proud to note, based on her genealogical research, that she was a fraction Jewish.

Ms. Shuffield became editor of the Greater Houston Jewish Genealogy Society’s quarterly newsletter. In October, the Texas Jewish Historical Society voted to give her its Outstanding Preservation Award, a prize that will be

presented posthumously in April.

She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, organizations to which she volunteered years of service as an officer and executive board member.

Ms. Shuffield taught hundreds of novice genealogists how to document their ancestry and heritage and she mentored the Milam County Genealogical Society. She contributed a considerable amount of historical research documentation in Milam County.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Betty Knight Shuffield.

Survivors are her father, Eugene J. Sheffield, and a brother, Eugene Jr.; also, numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.