Shelly Stork

Shelly Kay Stork, 48, of Waukee, Iowa, passed away unexpectedly Tuesday, December 30, 2025, at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa. Visitation will be Monday, January 5, 2026, from 4-8:00 p.m. at Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Mount Vernon, Iowa. Funeral Service will be Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. with a one-hour visitation at 10:00 a.m. prior to the service at Living Hope Global Methodist Church in Lisbon, Iowa. Burial at Lisbon Cemetery will immediately follow the service. A luncheon at the church will follow.

Those unable to attend are invited to watch the service via livestream. Please find the livestream link on Shelly’s Tribute Wall and share your support and memories with her family at www.stewartbaxter.com under Obituaries.

Shelly was born August 28, 1977, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The daughter of Don Stork and Lora (Powell) Baltes, she grew up on a farm in Lisbon and graduated from Lisbon High School in 1995. She attended Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, graduating in 1999 with a B.A. in history and a minor in political science.

In high school, Shelly was a three-sport athlete playing volleyball, basketball, and softball. She was a member of the State Championship Lisbon softball team in 1994 and 1995, playing second base. She also sang in the choir and played saxophone in the band. In college, she played softball her freshman year and was a member of Pi Beta Phi, a national women’s fraternity. She received the Senior Service Award from the Iowa Beta Chapter Alumni Advisory Committee for outstanding service and loyalty to the chapter and to the fraternity.

Shelly fulfilled her desire of staying in the Des Moines area post college by securing her first job for Iowa Wireless, later iWireless, as a customer first representative in 1999. She quickly rose in the company to customer first supervisor and then billing analyst, eventually becoming Senior Billing & Roaming Manager. When iWireless was sold to T-Mobile she maintained employment as the Project, Site, and Engineering Development Manager. She worked for iWireless and T-Mobile for 23 years before moving to Aureon in 2022 as the Director of Client Operations. She took great pride in her telecommunications career and was highly respected as an employee, coworker, and boss. She was passionate about solving business challenges through data and collaboration.

Family was of the utmost importance to Shelly. She spent countless hours and drove endless miles to cheer on her nephews, Christian and Carter, at all of their events and school activities. She was their biggest fan and known as Aunt Shelly to all of their friends and teammates.

She cherished time spent with her grandparents—sharing conversations, learning their history, and cooking and baking together. Her love of travel created special experiences not only for her, but also for her family and friends.

Shelly loved Broadway musicals, holding season tickets at the Des Moines Civic Center, also traveling multiple times to New York City to experience them at the pinnacle of American professional theater. She also enjoyed NASCAR racing at the Iowa Speedway in Newton and generously shared extra tickets with family and friends.

She was an avid follower of athletics, whether it was her nephews’ teams, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Yankees, the Olympics, the Hawkeyes … really everything. Her brain had the uncanny ability to remember statistics, where athletes grew up, went to college, who they played for, family connections, etc. She may have even quizzed you while watching an event.

Those who knew Shelly remember her for her amazing smile, incredible sense of humor, and kind, caring heart.

Shelly is survived and will be profoundly missed by her dad, Don Stork of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; mom, Lora Baltes and stepdad, Larry Baltes of Lisbon, Iowa; sister, Kathy (Stork) Madison and husband Ben of Adel, Iowa; beloved nephews, Christian and Carter Madison; paternal grandparents, Bill and Dorothy (Whitman) Stork of Lisbon; stepsiblings, Tony Baltes and wife, Tina of Lisbon and Teresa (Baltes) Julich and husband, Jeff of Cedar Rapids; step-niece and nephews, Blair, Brant, and Brock Baltes; and numerous aunts; uncles; and cousins who loved her dearly.

She was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Richard Powell and Nan (Pieper) Powell of Camanche, Iowa; and her stepmom, Trisha Stork of Cedar Rapids.

Shelly will live on through others with her generous gift of being a tissue and eye donor through the Iowa Donor Network. She will leave a lasting legacy of hope and healing for those in need.

In lieu of flowers, the family has set up a Shelly Stork Memorial Fund, c/o Kathy Madison, P.O. Box 342, Adel, Iowa, 50003. Memorial gifts will be distributed later to organizations dear to Shelly.