Karin Kay Shearburn Haverstic

Karin Kay Shearburn Haverstic, 86, of Moundville, MO, passed away at Joplin Mercy Hospital, Monday, October 20, 2025, after a brief illness. Full of independence, inner strength and grace throughout her life, she decided to enter hospice the morning of her death surrounded by family and still relishing a strong victory by the Chiefs.

Karin was born on October 4, 1939, to Melvin and Lee Earl Thompson Shearburn. She married Preston Lee Haverstic on July 8, 1967, at the Bronaugh Christian Church.

Born and raised on her parent’s farm near Bronaugh’s Railroad Pond and just across from what is now Shearburn Ball Field, Karin was a tomboy with a stylish flair. She had a special bond with her maternal grandmother with whom she lived when her younger brother was ill. She thought she was helping her grandmother not get scared in a big house when it really was her grandmother taking care of her. Karin spent the rest of her life helping her own family through both good and difficult times with care and love. She attended school at Bronaugh, was active in sports, school plays, and the Madrigaleans vocal group. She graduated from Bronaugh High School in 1957 and attended Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg, now PSU, where she joined Alpha Sigma Alpha and began taking switchboard and clerical jobs in hospitals and doctor offices in El Dorado, KS, and Kansas City. She could switch on her telephone voice at any time but much preferred working in her uncle’s DX station in Bronaugh. She remained a gearhead for life whether troubleshooting sounds on her vehicles or her hospital devices at the end. Upon returning to Vernon County, MO, Karin worked at the Division of Family Services. Her absolute favorite vocation was being an active partner in the farming operation she and Preston grew on the family farm east of Moundville, where she and Preston built their home, planted trees, and raised a family. She loved watching the calves, hauling grain, being on a tractor or a mower, and backing gooseneck trailers with pinpoint accuracy, much to the envy of Preston’s friends. She farmed with Preston until 1994 and continued to raise cattle with him until selling the last calves in 2011. She still discussed and critiqued the crops and cattle raised by those who leased her land and was working on completing the family’s Century Farm application for 2025.

Karin grew up in the Bronaugh Christian Church and joined the Moundville United Methodist Church while raising her family there. Community-minded, Karin was active in her church, Moundville Cemetery Association, Moundville Picnic, and Tri-County Woodcarvers, earning several ribbons on her bas-relief work and carving heirlooms for her family. She helped spearhead the 1988 Bronaugh-Moundville History Book, an interest of hers and a gift to her mother. She took great delight in her granddaughters and family in addition to times with her dear neighbors and friends.

Survivors include two sons, Lindell Lee and his wife, Margaret, and Preston Todd and his wife, Kamero; two granddaughters, Virginia Joyce and Clara Louise Haverstic; one step granddaughter, Katelyn Lee and her husband, Kevin, and their two children, Rhett and Hazel; sister-in-law Pearl Shearburn; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, brothers DeVon and Gary Dean, sister Gayle, and Gayle’s husband, Richard Cooper.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, October 25, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, at the Moundville United Methodist Church. A family committal service will take place at a later date in Newton Burial Park, Nevada, MO. Friends may call now and through Friday to sign a guestbook at Percy’s Place in Bronaugh, where Karin celebrated her 85th and 86th birthdays.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Worsley Cemetery, which she and her siblings used to help their father mow, or to the Moundville United Methodist Church, for which she baked many Lord’s Acre turkeys and helped make countless gallons of slush. View obituary online at www.masonwoodard.com.