Norma Jean Shannon

Norma Jean Shannon-Lockwood-Ballard was the third daughter born to Arthur William “Bill” and Mildred Ruth Franklin-Ballard. She was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on December 29, 1935, and passed into eternity in Visalia, California, on September 30, 2026. Her sisters, Bonnie Merkel, born May 25, 1926, and Awanda Self, born October 25, 1931, were also born in Hugo, Oklahoma. Denise Carver was born in Tulare, California, on August 26, 1946. She is preceded in death by her sisters. 

Jean completed first grade in Abernathy, TX, in 1942. She attended second through fifth grades in Randsburg, CA, from 1943 to 1946, and sixth through eighth grades at Cherry Avenue School in Tulare from 1946 to 1949.

While attending Tulare Union High School, Jean married LeVaughn Lockwood on December 5, 1950. She continued attending classes at TUHS until shortly before the birth of their first son, Paul Lockwood, on December 26, 1952, in Tulare. Their second son, Randy Lockwood, was born at Fort Ord, CA, on January 2, 1955. Their third son, Scott Lockwood, was also born at Fort Ord on May 26, 1960.

Jean and LeVaughn were a military family for 27 years, traveling and living in Italy, Alaska, and several U.S. states. LeVaughn’s first overseas assignment was in South Korea, from January 1955 through June 1956. This assignment set the pace for their military lifestyle.

Jean was the mother-in-law of three daughters-in-law: Karen, who married Paul in 1978; Mariah, who married Randy in 2000; and Debra, who married Scott in 2003. She was a grandmother and great-grandmother to seven by birth and sixteen through love and marriage. Her favorite title was “Grandma Jeannie.” She had many nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly.

Over the years, Jean worked for several employers, including John Hancock Life Insurance Agency, National Bank of Alaska, ARCO Headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska, the County of Tulare Clerk-Recorder’s Office in Visalia, and Mervyn’s Department Store in Tulare.

Jean was trained and experienced in bookkeeping, accounting, legal document examination, and financial control. She enjoyed and excelled in customer service. For more than 60 years, she volunteered as a children’s teacher at churches and at schools on military bases through the Red Cross. In 1996, she served as a missionary assistant in South Africa. From 2010 to 2019, she co-taught a women’s Bible study at her senior complex in Tulare.

Jean enjoyed square and round dancing with Sequoia Squares, gardening, and writing short stories. Forty of her stories were published in the Tulare Advance-Register through the Tulare Senior Center Writers’ Group: Down Memory Lane. Jean attended Heart of the Valley Foursquare Church in Visalia for more than 20 years and Tulare Foursquare Church from 1986 to 2003. She enjoyed a wonderful 90th birthday celebration in December 2025, attended by family and friends who traveled from afar.

She loved God, family, friends, and nature—especially hummingbirds.

The motto she lived by was: “Love is known and shown by the action it prompts.”

A Celebration of Life will be held at Heart of the Valley Church, Visalia, CA on Saturday, November 14th at 10am.

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