Mary Kathleen Schoonover Milam, 99, long-time resident of the Oak Grove community died on June 6, 2022, after a sixth month stay at Aspire facility in Oak Grove, MO.  She was born on a farm in Parkville, MO on March 8, 1923, to the late Cordell Schoonover and the late Mable (Siders) Schoonover. She married the late Roy Milam on April 19, 1940.  Her love for the country never left and her 57 years of married life began on a 200-acre farm in Bates City, MO. She had a creative imagination and loved riding horses, plowing the fields, doing back flips, tap dancing, standing on her head, baking and decorating wedding cakes, and writing poems, books, and stories. As a teen she was runner up for Miss Kansas City.  She loved children and enjoyed entertaining her children’s school friends, as well as many friends and relatives.

   She became a published author in her mid-70’s and continued to speak at retreats, schools, libraries, churches, nursing home/rehab centers into her late 80’s. Her favorite book, “The Waiting Place” was inspired by the loss of her husband to explain death to children.  Her enthusiasm and ready smile were an inspiration to many. At the age of 78, she baked a wedding cake (carrot) for 200 and transported it with the help of her daughter’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law to Kauai at the request of her youngest grandson’s wedding. She enjoyed traveling with her daughter, Margie from the east to the west coast.  She spent many winters with her youngest sister, Bennie and husband Gene Shiflett and her youngest daughter and her husband in Florida.  Her favorite trip was to visit Rita and Jim in Alaska when they were living there.  She was unafraid to spend a night on the beach with her grandson and his wife when she was in her 80’s.

   She was a long-time member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oak Grove.  Her love for Jesus oozed out of her.  There are so many lives she touched in those ‘many years’, that she said God had given her. 

   She loved a party, whether a special wedding anniversary or a birthday party for others and especially for her, she’d be happy to share a poem, story, or song that she’d written for the occasion.  At her 99^th birthday party, she recited from memory a poem she’d written in the 70’s that had helped her maintain a sunny disposition during some adverse conditions.

   She is survived by her three children: Margie Cox of Myrtle Beach, SC, Rita (Jim) Stevens of Lacey, WA, and Louie (Tonja) Milam of Bolivar, MO; 12 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, and 14 great-great grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; and an abundance of relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by an infant son, four sisters, and one brother.

   Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 9^th at Royer Funeral Home in Oak Grove, MO; burial in Oak Grove Cemetery.  The family will receive friends from 2:00 p.m. until service time at the funeral home.

Obituary submitted by family.

Arrangements:  Royer Funeral Home, Oak Grove, MO   816-690-4441