1/23/06 Shay has Gone Home

Beautiful Shay Lynn Eisenhardt was one of the earlier cases we assisted with after we started Project Jason. She had been missing since July of 2003, and we started working with her advocate, Jill Shirah, in March of 2004.

Jill was Shay’s best friend, and they grew up together in Michigan. Jill worked hard to get Shay’s information distributed to various organizations and sites. She organized a prayer vigil for Shay and also helped write the biography for our Adopt a Missing Person program, of which Shay took part. Shay’s mother, Linda, was raising her grandchildren while they searched and wondered what happened to this lovely young mother. They knew that she would not just disappear, lose contact, and leave her two boys behind. They were right.

Shay’s remains were found recently very close to where she disappeared. At this time, authorities do not know the cause of death. She was identified through dental records.

News articles and updates on Shay can be found at http://www.truckingboards.com/trucking/upload/showthread.php?t=7047

To honor her life, I am publishing her Adopt a Missing Person bio here. I came to know Shay through Jill and Linda. She will be missed.

“Shay Lynn (Fuhrman) Eisenhardt graced our lives May 29th, 1972 @ 11:35 a.m. at Bronson Methodist Hospital, the only child of Linda Sue Taylor. Shay started life with Mother Linda and Father Roger L. Fuhrman in Portage, Michigan. Shay was daddy's little girl often seen carrying her doll by the hair following Roger, with their Bulldog, Spud, following Shay.

Shay attended preschool at Child Development Center; Cherry St; Kalamazoo, Michigan, there she was a flower girl for the wedding of her teacher. Elementary, Middle and High School were in the Portage, Comstock and Plainwell areas. As a young teen, Shay modeled for a fashion show at Jacobson’s dept. store. She loved styling her hair and experimenting with make-up and fashion. At an early age she was meticulous about her appearance, always wanting to look her best.

She was a Brownie scout, and her mother Linda was the troop leader. While living in Plainwell at age 9, Shay entered a huge black rooster belonging to a friend, Don Furtah, in the Allegan County Fair. She won the Blue Ribbon. Shay attended St Catherine’s church where she was baptized and completed catechism. As an adult, Shay attended Kalamazoo Valley Family Church.

When in her late teens, Shay and her friend flew to Alaska near Juno to stay with her friend’s aunt. The girls spent the summer working in a fish packing company. An adventurer, Shay loved camping, fishing, hiking, canoeing, hunting and tubing . Shay spent a lot of time on Long Lake summer after summer with a close group of friends. Shay surrounded herself with friends and loved ones. She enjoyed holidays, particularly Halloween and Christmas, decorating her home, dressing up to trick or treat or cooking with a holiday theme. Shay loved feeding people.

She cherished her sons Jacob, 14, whom she called her “man” and Kaleb 8, “her baby” because he was her last. Shay loved being pregnant and wanted more children. She loved her boys and was a devoted and nurturing mother. She enjoyed teaching her sons about nature as they walked the trails of Al Sabo Preserve. Camped for extended periods, and showed Jacob how to tube behind a boat at the lake. Shay kept extensive photo records of her children’s lives which she had been assembling individual albums for each of her sons before her disappearance.

Shay had expressed a desire to become a nurse, as she enjoyed her work at an assisted living facility in Kalamazoo. She listened eagerly when residents reminisced and stories of days gone by in another time and life. Shay loved her music. She enjoyed variety, blues, rock, country, reggae and new age to name but a few.

While living in Battle Creek, Shay walked to the library to find music and books to interest her sons. She wanted to pass on her love of reading to her boys.

Shay filled the room with her mere presence. Her smile and laughter were genuine, her hugs fierce, her emotions deep. She is loved and missed desperately by her sons, her mother, family and friends.”