Michelle Busby

Michelle “Shelly” Elizabeth Busby joined her Heavenly Father on Monday, August 21, 2023. Following an arduous and valiant fight against cancer, her earthly body could not hold down her beautiful spirit any longer. She passed away peacefully surrounded by family.

Shelly was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1954 to Elizabeth and Julius Zakrzewski. She attended college at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, earned her master’s degree in counseling and subsequently began teaching second grade in the Emporia School District. She moved to Kansas City, worked as a school counselor in the Kansas City Missouri School District and retired in 2014 as the community resource director at Allen Village Charter School. In retirement, she couldn’t stay away from education and continued to hold roles at the Home Instead Senior Care facility and Douglas County Montessori School when she and her husband moved to Colorado. 

Shelly was a loved and respected educator; she received several honors during her tenure including Counselor of the Year in Kansas City and the Kindest Kansas Citian award. To be closer to her daughter and growing family, Shelly and her husband moved to Katy, Texas. In true Shelly fashion, she quickly found ways to grow her faith and became involved in P.E.O, bible studies, and prayer groups. 

While education and community were an integral part of her life, Shelly’s true love was for the Lord, her family and friends. Shelly is survived by her husband Steve of 33 years, her daughter Sara (Al) Ralston, grandson’s Alvin and Aaron Ralston, her brother Michael (Audrey) Zakrzewski, niece Alyssa (Jordan) Kuwik, nephew Garrett (Leanna) Zakrzewski and great nephew Lincoln Zakrzewski.

She enjoyed exploring the beauty of God’s creations by traveling, gardening, and spending as much time as possible outdoors. She knew her purpose while on earth was to share God’s love with every person she met. This was evident in every interaction, and she never left you without a huge smile and famous Shelly Busby blessing-filled hug. Her kindness, compassion and generosity were infectious and she was incredible at pouring her love into all her family and friends.  

A celebration of life for Shelly will be held on Friday, October 13 at 1pm at Second Baptist Church, 1463 Campus, 5757 FM 1463, Katy, TX 77494.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of the following places:

P.E.O. - Shelly highly valued her membership in the P.E.O. Sisterhood, serving a second term as Recording Secretary for her local chapter.  P.E.O. is a Philanthropic Educational Organization that provides educational opportunities for women through scholarships, grants, awards and loans. Donations to P.E.O. in Shelly’s memory can be made online at peointernational.org (http://peointernational.org/) or a check may be made payable to the P.E.O. Foundation, and mailed to P.E.O. Foundation, 3700 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312. Please direct your gift to Chapter JS-Katy TX. 

MD Anderson Cancer Center - Shelly was blessed to have worked with an incredible team of doctors who allowed her to live her life to the fullest as long as possible. Visit https://www.mdanderson.org/ and click Donate Today. We would ask that your gift is directed to the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine.