August 7, 1959 ~ July 17, 2026 (age 66)
Michelle Louise “Shelly” Slovak, of Stephenville and Farmers Branch, Texas, passed away on July 17, 2026, with her family by her side. Born August 7, 1959, in Dallas to Louis Joe Slovak and Patricia Ann (Adams) Slovak, Michelle lived a life defined by fierce love, perseverance, humor, and an unwavering devotion to family.
As a girl, Michelle treasured fishing, hunting, and special outings with her daddy and Papaw. She loved family gatherings, visits with relatives in Texas and California, and Jurick family reunions at Sokol Hall in Ennis. After losing her mother when she was only twelve, she drew even closer to her extended family. Around that same time, soccer became one of the great passions of her life. She was proud to be a founding member of the women’s soccer program at R. L. Turner High School and dreamed of playing professionally.
Michelle later made her home in Stephenville, where she raised her children and built friendships that lasted a lifetime. She was the kind of mother who filled childhood with activity and adventure. She coached soccer, cheered from the sidelines with unmistakable enthusiasm, took the family camping at Lake Whitney, planned trips to Port Aransas and Disney World, and drove across Texas so her children would know the relatives and traditions that mattered so deeply to her. She was proud of her Czechoslovakian and Adams heritage and made certain those family connections continued into the next generation.
Her grandchildren knew her as MawMaw. She loved them wholeheartedly and gave each one the attention, encouragement, and steady presence they needed. She celebrated their accomplishments, worried over their struggles, shared football, hockey, and Rangers games, and remained involved in the details of their lives. Becoming a great-grandmother brought her tremendous joy. Her great-grandson Asher knew the way to MawMaw’s house before he was three and asked for her whenever he got into the car.
Michelle’s life also required extraordinary courage. She stood beside her daughters Michelle Dawn and Patricia Louise through childhood cancer, supported her granddaughter Mia during her own cancer treatment, and encouraged her son Joseph as he began treatment for glioblastoma. She endured the deaths of her parents, sisters, and two daughters while continuing to care for the people around her. When she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in 2025, she underwent treatment and beat it. After a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in January 2026, she again met treatment with determination and hope.
For sixteen years, Michelle worked at Subway, eventually becoming a store manager. She took pride in her work and valued her coworkers, employees, customers, and her boss and friend, Clarissa Kopchack. Her warmth and humor turned many customers and colleagues into friends, and she remained employed there until her final illness.
Michelle was preceded in death by her parents, Louis Joe Slovak and Patricia Ann Slovak; sisters, Deborah Ann Burke and Brenda Joyce Slovak; and daughters, Michelle Dawn Lawson and Patricia Louise Lawson.
She is survived by her stepmother, Betty Slovak; sister-in-law, Beki Picus; daughter Cory Lynn McCray and husband David; son Joseph Lawson and partner Cheyenne White; grandchildren Adam Lawson and wife Kassle Pack, Nicholas McCray and partner Victoria Harris, Patricia Hannah McCray, and Mia McCray and significant other Caleb Fields; great-grandchildren Asher Gray McCray, Zyrus Pack-Lawson, and TJ Pack-Lawson; aunt Geraldine Slovak; uncles Robert Adams and Thomas O’Brien; cousins Kim, Kelly, Daryl, Brandon, Karen, Jimmy, Katie, Ranae, Roby, and Vickie; and many friends whose lives were made richer by knowing her.
Michelle’s family extends its heartfelt gratitude to the Stephenville community and to the relatives, friends, neighbors, churches, medical teams, and others who supported them throughout the many years of treatments and travel. Your prayers, generosity, meals, assistance, encouragement, and willingness to step in when the family needed help made some of their hardest seasons more bearable. Those acts of kindness were never forgotten and will always remain part of Michelle’s story.
Michelle fought long and hard for the people she loved and for the life she wanted to keep sharing with them. Her family takes comfort in knowing that she is now at peace and reunited with her daughters, sisters, and parents. She will be remembered in every family gathering, every soccer game loudly cheered, every camping trip, every shared joke, and every act of determined love.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in support of her son Joseph’s fight against glioblastoma: www.gofundme.com/f/help-joseph-fight-the-emperor-of-all-cancers
Graveside Services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, July 25, 2026, at East End Cemetery, 208 Morgan Mill Rd, Stephenville, TX 76401. Visitation will be held prior to services from 8:00-9:30 a.m., Saturday, August 25, 2026, at Lacy Funeral Home.
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