PIKE COUNTY, Mo. — The biggest shock at the fund-raising roast for Charlene McCune wasn’t any of the barbs, but the crowd-wowing stunner that she and her daughters made.

Champ Clark Honey Shuck Restoration Inc. sponsored the Oct. 29 event at the Knights of Columbus Hall in St. Clement.

McCune is a long-time board member of the non-profit group, which cares for Clark’s Bowling Green home and his significant political legacy.

After abiding more than an hour of good-natured badgering with a smile that never seemed to cease, McCune announced she was donating $10,000 to Honey Shuck.

Daughters Beth Whitaker and Victoria Grove then took the microphone and surprised their mother by saying they, too, were contributing $10,000.

“We’re a treasure of history,” McCune told the audience of more than 120 people. “I love every one of you. It has been an unbelievable evening, and I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done for Honey Shuck, my family and me.”

The roast was organized and emceed by Pat Flynn, a Honey Shuck board member who has more than two decades of experience with such events. He called McCune “the nicest girl at the party.” The hall was decorated with some of her favorites – pineapples, butterflies, St. Louis Cardinals memorabilia and the color brown.

A skit featuring Julie Leverenz as McCune and Whitaker as her mother’s best friend, Beverly Hood, got things rolling. Leverenz drew laughs with her take on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by lamenting that it didn’t include brown.

Leverenz later called McCune “one of the biggest cheerleaders in all of our lives,” and predicted she would have an “indelible and everlasting legacy” because of her volunteer work with so many local organizations and a “talent for creating memories that would last a lifetime.”

“Charlene always knows how to make others feel special,” she said.

Leverenz did find time to poke fun at McCune’s propensity for challenging referees’ calls during Bowling Green basketball games, saying the sport brings out an “alter ego” that “turns her into another person” who offers “spirited suggestions” to the officials.

Ruth Mahar, who attends Curryville Presbyterian Church with McCune, agreed that her soul sister wanted “everything to be perfect.”

“Charlene is wonderful,” Mahar said. “When I was told she was going to be roasted, I said ‘You gotta be kidding me. What are we going to come up with?’”

Well, one thing Mahar noted was McCune’s huge broach collection. She was wearing one at the roast, in the shape of a pineapple, of course.

Then, there’s what the church calls “Charlene’s Closet,” a packed storage room at Curryville Presbyterian. McCune apparently waffles between keeping and pitching the bounty. People can check it out – perhaps after a prayer – at the every-other-month community dinners the congregation hosts.

Some of the best zingers came from McCune’s son-in-law, Todd Whitaker. He started an admittedly “delicate dance” by saying the right things, such as calling McCune the “princess of love” and promising not to “rip her a new one.” That didn’t last long.

Without revealing his mother-in-law’s age, Whitaker said she had “a lot of rings on her tree” and that she “tried to sign up for history (at the University of Missouri) but they called it current events.” He also revealed that, as a boy, son Harrison had once proclaimed that his grandmother looked like Eleanor Roosevelt.

Whitaker noted McCune’s vigorous community efforts, then added she would “volunteer for anything that doesn’t require a background check.”

Getting back to compliments, Whitaker said he knew of no one kinder or nicer. “It is a well-lived life when you make the world a better place,” he said.

Capping the festivities was a laugh-provoking poem by Rodes Hood and a song by Beverly Hood. Additional funds were raised through ticket sales, an auction, donations and a 50-50 drawing.

The Clark home was saved and donated to Honey Shuck Restoration through the efforts of the late Congressman William Hungate and his wife, Dorothy. Their son, David, the original bass player for the rock band Toto, attended the roast.

Honey Shuck Board President Larry Twellman called the second annual event “a huge success.” Last year’s roastee was Bowling Green attorney Bill McIlroy.