Joan C Shaw

Joan Campbell Shaw (age 99) of Manchester, Vermont crossed over gently, as was her way, at home on Cottage Street where she and her late husband Douglas Parker Shaw raised their five children. She was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, NY as the only child of Clarence and Madge Thompson Campbell.

The music of Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley played on loop in her ear in her final hours. She adored music, and she liked the volume all the way up. Step into her living room at any time of day, and you were likely to find her reading or doing the crossword with VPR classical blaring in the background.

Joan was much loved by her five children Sally, Andrew, Nancy, Cynthia, and Elizabeth, as well as her sons-in-law – Chris Senecal, Ian Mackenzie, and Bart Bales, and her daughter-in-law Jennifer (Ball) Shaw. Rarely a day went by when she wasn’t visited by one or several of her seven grandchildren – Calvin, Emily, Cameron, Celia, Rudyard, Esther, and Isla. Joan also maintained a close relationship with her Fresh Air Fund son–the late Julio Gomez of Virginia, his wife Daphane, and their family. Other survivors include numerous nieces and nephews.

As an only child, she made up for the lack of siblings with a plethora of lifelong friends, including those she made while growing up on Sidney Place in Brooklyn Heights. From her wistful descriptions, her childhood was as dreamy and perfect as a children’s picture book. Her beloved family dog was a Terrier named Dawn (which, in Brooklyn, is pronounced Doh-wan). She regularly crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on roller skates and sledded down Washington Street, and never forgot the name of the policeman on the Manhattan side of the bridge, Mr. Bobsy. She also remembered the names of every one of her teachers and most of her classmates at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, which she attended from pre-school through to twelfth grade. She adored the Adirondacks where she spent her childhood summers in Elizabethtown with family and friends.

Joan fell in love with Vermont while she was a student at Middlebury College, where she was a proud sister of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She graduated in 1946, with sights set on joining the United States Naval Reserve (WAVE) program. Her years at Middlebury were “the best years of her life,” spent schussing down the slopes of the Middlebury Snowbowl, hiking up Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington, and driving over to Hanover for Dartmouth skiing carnivals, and hitchhiking to Basin Harbor with her girlfriends. Middlebury was also where she learned how to mix bourbon with her ginger ale.

After graduating from Middlebury College, she “cried for a month” upon returning to Brooklyn to live with her parents and work for PanAm Airlines. Always up for an adventure, she took the QE2 to Europe where she spent several months biking, sometimes hitchhiking, around Germany, France, and the Netherlands with a friend. Still missing Vermont, she spent a winter working in hospitality and being a ski-bum in Stowe, then eventually moved to Manchester where she worked as a secretary for Attorney James Campbell.

Joan loved meeting people and having fun. As was the custom, she was reported to have had numerous suitors well into her late twenties. The ultimate suitor presented itself one day in the form of Manchester native Doug Shaw, who she first met on Bonnet Street in Manchester–the street where he lived. They married in 1955 and reportedly laughed their way through the ceremony. And they continued to laugh together for another fifty-nine years until Doug died.

Despite having five kids, before the invention of disposable diapers, Joan made time to serve her community. She was a Cub Scout den mother and she volunteered for the Manchester Health Services’ Thrift Shop. She was also a Fresh Air Mother, a Cancer Crusader, a passionate member of Town Lift, and she co-chaired the local Green Up Day for Manchester and Bennington County. She was also a long-time member of Zion Episcopal Church and the Bromley Outing Club (then Bromley Ski Club), an emeritus member of Manchester’s Monday Club and Ekwanok Country Club, and a member of the less well-known but more “exclusive” Dirty Thursday Club. She remained Middlebury Class of ‘46 representative/secretary and hounded her few remaining classmates for news until the day she died.

A Jeopardy champion without ever being on the show, her trivial knowledge retention was dumbfounding. She remembered everything and everyone, including the names of non-family member’s children. Joan was the family’s Queen Bee, and she ruled with love, subtlety, and composure. Animals gravitated to her, and she was rarely found without a dog at her feet and a cat on her lap.

Most of all, Joan was kind.

Donations in her memory may be made to the Northshire Rescue Squad, or VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region, care of Brewster-Shea Funeral Service, PO Box 885, Manchester, Ctr. VT. 05255.

The memorial service for Joan will take place on Saturday April 13th at 10:30 AM at Zion Episcopal Church, 5167 Main St. Manchester Center, VT 05255

To send the family personal condolences please visit www.sheafuneralhomes.com.