Loah Lorene Stallard passed away on December 26, 2020 at the age of 87.
In addition to being a loving mother and wife, Loah was the executive director of the Social Welfare Board (SWB) from 1979 to 2006. The SWB provides health care for underserved residents of Buchanan County.
Under Loah’s guidance, the SWB grew from a staff of four to more than 40 and added dental, gynecologic, and arthritis services, crisis counseling, cardiovascular screening, a dietician, and a diabetic food program.
Loah was born September 15, 1933, to Francis Lunan and Beulah Bradley Lunan in Chariton, Iowa, where she grew up with her older sister, Fran, and younger brother, Ralph (Greg). She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Iowa in 1955. While there, she met Donald Stallard, who was completing a medical residency at the University of Iowa hospital. After they married in 1956, Loah stayed home to raise their four children.
Over the next two decades, she remained active in community affairs. In the mid-1960s, Loah organized and obtained funding for the first family planning clinic in St. Joseph. She was president of the Junior League of St. Joseph from 1970-71 and also helped organize the Volunteer Action Center under the United Way.
Loah took leadership of the Social Welfare Board in 1979. She was one of the first to recognize the importance of using nurses with master’s degrees to provide care in ambulatory clinics, especially in underserved and rural areas. Loah said of the Board’s work and outreach programs that “people are so appreciative that you are making a change in their lives.” Throughout her years at the SWB, she always placed great emphasis on improving the lives of the underserved populations.
Even after taking leadership of the SWB, Loah returned to graduate school to earn a Master of Science in nursing from the University of Kansas in 1987. She subsequently earned a second master’s degree in public administration in 1993 with an emphasis in health care from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
When Loah stepped down as executive director of the SWB in 2006, she became health educator for the Board, working with patients to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and gynecologic issues.
Throughout her career, Loah also served on the boards of many community and state organizations, including the Missouri Western Foundation Board and the Heartland Hospital (now Mosaic) Board. She testified multiple times on health issues before the Missouri State legislature. Loah joined the River Bluffs Regional Library System Board in 1998 and advocated strongly to keep services in all the neighborhoods. She also served as an elder at the First Presbyterian Church.
In 2017, Donald Stallard made a gift to the Missouri Western Foundation to create the Loah Stallard Graduate Nursing Scholarship to honor Loah’s work as Social Welfare Board director.
Loah also received many honors and awards over the years:
• 1983: Community Health Award from the Buchanan County Medical Society
• 1987: Sigma Theta Tau Graduate Award
• 1987: Froehlich Award for Academic Achievement and Leadership Ability
• 1988 - present: Sigma Theta XI – Scientific Research Society
• 1988: University of Kansas School of Allied Health, Research Day, First Place, Nursing Division
• 1989: Tribute to Missouri’s Nurses Award from St. Louis University
• 2007: YWCA’s Women of Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award.
When Loah received the YWCA award in 2007, an editorial in the St. Joseph News-Press said, “She has touched the lives of so many with kindness that no medal or award will ever match the mettle of her soul.”
Despite her accomplishments, Loah always put the needs of her family first. She also led an active personal life outside her career and volunteer work. This included many trips with the entire family or just Donald. In summers, family vacations to Rocky Mountain National Park always involved hiking and an overnight campout. Loah climbed the highest mountain in the park, Longs Peak, three times, and fulfilled her lifelong goal of getting all four children up the same mountain. She also hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the Milford Track in New Zealand, and went SCUBA diving in the Caribbean. Loah had a deep love of animals, and the house was always filled with cats and dogs, including a series of beagles.
Loah was preceded in death by her parents and by her husband, Donald, who passed away in 2019.
She is survived by her sister, Fran Shoop, Johnston, IA, and her brother, Ralph (Greg) Lunan, San Rafael, CA; her four children, Julia (Paul) Horne, Germantown, TN; Mary (Rob Marinai) Stallard, Oakland, CA; Donald (Karen), Mission Hills, KS; and Jim (Cathy Hicks), New York, NY; and six grandchildren, Brandon Horne, Michael Horne, Amelia Marinai, William Stallard, Samuel Stallard, and Grace Stallard.
A celebration of life is planned for a future date. Donations in Loah’s name may be given to the Loah Stallard Graduate Nursing Scholarship Fund, MWSU Foundation, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, MO 64507, or to Friends of the Free Clinic, 904 S. 10th St., Suite A., St. Joseph, MO 64503.
