Shawn Patrick Poole

 Shawn Poole died June 6, 2025 at 11:18 in the morning. He was surrounded by loved ones at the end of his life, just as he was from the beginning.

Shawn was born at Porter Hospital in Denver, Colorado to Jack and Bonnie Poole on November 16, 1963. He grew up in Englewood and spent most of his time running wild through the nature areas of Belleview Park. He attended Clayton Elementary, Sinclair Middle, and was a 1982 graduate of Englewood High School. After high school he attended the University of Northern Colorado, earning a BA in Elementary Education in 1986.

Shawn immediately got a job teaching at Walnut Hills Elementary school in the Cherry Creek School District. That was the beginning of a 39-year career, all in Cherry Creek. He earned a Masters Degree in Administration and eventually left Walnut Hills to become a dean at Prairie Middle School. After a few years he moved back into the classroom as a sixth-grade language arts teacher. His heart was always with kids. He was still a staff member at Prairie when he passed.

Shawn was incredibly intelligent and talented. Everything he found interest in, he took on with laser like focus. As one of his close friends recently noted, “Shawn never did anything half assed!” He was a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. He was a talented fly fisherman, tying his own ties to the tiniest detail, even winning a national fly-tying contest for one of his creations. He was an accomplished woodworker, making tables using the fractal burn method. He would fill the fractal burn ridges with colored epoxy, resulting in stunning creations. He was also a talented landscaper, building ponds and garden beds in the backyard of his house, much to the delight of his wife Rachel. But Shawn’s greatest gift, and the one where he touched so very many lives, was as a teacher. He will be greatly missed by his current and former students as well as the many colleagues who knew and loved him.

Shawn was kind, generous, and fun. He had a wonderful sense of humor, and he loved to tease. He assigned most everyone a nickname, and that was how he knew them from then on. Throughout his life, his charismatic personality endeared him to others. His loss was sudden, shocking, and will be deeply felt by many. He will be missed. He is survived by his wife Rachel, his brother Gary and wife Jane, his brother Scott, and his brother Tony and wife Rebecca.

Services will be held at Horan & McConaty Funeral Home. Shawn's services will be live streamed: https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=a91777cc-8be5-4036-9a66-02f576d8149d. You will need to enter your name and email address to receive a private link to watch the ceremony. No need to register for an account.

Please consider a donation to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation in lieu of flowers. All money raised by the foundation goes directly to students. Shawn would have appreciated such a gift in his name.