My Story by Robert k Shaw 6/15/1993

8/14/2019 My Story by Robert k Shaw 6/15/1993

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MY STORY

By Robert K Shaw 6/15/1993

5370 Nugget Road, Fair Oaks, California 95628.

I, Robert Keith Shaw, was born on March 16, 1927, at Dee Hospital in

Ogden, Weber County, Utah. I was the eighth of ten children born to my

parents. My father was John Riley Shaw, age 38, and my mother was

Josephine Cottam Shaw, age 35. The names of my brother and sisters are as

follows: Venis Powell, Erma Staples, Phyllis Tucker, Riley Shaw

(deceased), Marjorie Shaw (deceased), Beth Parker, Maxine Owen, Karen

Thomas and Chyrl Markworth lived in Pleasant View, Utah until I was eight

years old.

Some lessons learned in my early years in Utah:

1. To love the soil and be introduced to farming.

2. To feel the un- conditional love of my mother.

3. To learn to play sports. I found a baseball glove for a left-handed player

under the seat of an automobile that my father had purchased, at that time.

What luck!

4. I learned a bit about girls by dancing with Connie Rae Rhees at Primary.

The dance was called, "Comin' through the Rye."

My early schooling was at the old building across from the Pleasant

View Chapel. I was in the "Butterflies" reading group, for the slower

readers. I was baptized in the font at the back of the old P.V. Chapel. I

remember Sister Johns "heading me back to Primary," when I tried to 'short-

circuit' the program and go directly home from school, on Primary day.

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After severe economic and marital upheavals in the family, we moved

to Oakdale, California in February, 1936, for a better life. I was amazed to

see oranges growing on the trees, at that time of the year, after leaving frigid

Utah. Some lessons I learned in my new residence:

1. To become acquainted with my Aunts on my father's side. They were:

Harriet (Hattie) Higginbotham, Dora Grott, and Hazel Zerbe. I became

acquainted with their husbands and family members.

2. To adjust to multi-cultural people and customs. There were many migrant

farm workers, Hispanics and different racial groups in the Central Valley of

California where we lived.

3. To enjoy learning and school work.

4. To learn to perform physical work and learn skills, like carpentry, from

my father.

5. To be encouraged to stay active in the Church and magnify my Priesthood

and be introduced to the scriptures.

At the age of 17-years, I enlisted in the U. S. Coast Guard. Boot camp

was at Government Island, near Alameda, California. While on a troop train

traveling across the country, I was able to stop in Ogden, Utah and visit with

my brother and sisters. They came down to the station in the middle of the

night to see me. I earned a third-class petty officer rating as a radio operator

at the military school in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Then, I served at the

Humboldt Bay Air-Sea Rescue Station located in Eureka, California. I was

honorably discharged in 1946.

After my military service, I was called on a mission for the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to the Central States, at age 19-years. I was

set apart for the work by Elder Oscar A. Kirkham. My parents and family

members were very supportive of me during this time. The two-year mission

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was a learning experience for me, in becoming more familiar the scriptures

and being able to teach the Gospel principles. I worked in the states of

Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The term of my mission was

from 1947 to 1949.

My parents were not able to help me when I was considering going to

college. By using the G.I. Bill of Rights, then available to veterans, I was

able to be graduated from Modesto Junior College and Brigham Young

University. Later, I earned my master's degree from Utah State University.

The G.I. Bill also made it possible for us to purchase our home in Fair Oaks.

I have never regretted any time or expense involved in getting an education.

It has all been useful to me.

I met my future wife in Independence, Missouri. Her name is Mary

Lou Abbott. We were married on April 5, 1950 in the Temple at Salt Lake

City, Utah. My sisters, Venis Powell, Erma Staples, Phyllis Tucker and Beth

Parker, were very kind in giving us a wedding party. Also, at the reception,

were Great-Aunt Nell Rhees and Great-Uncle Rufus Rhees. Nell is the sister

to my grandmother, Lillie Rose Cottam. Blanche Marberger Shaw also

attended. Her daughter, Kandy Lynn, was about six-months-old, at the time.

Dear Aunt Mabel Ellis (mothers sister) was there with her daughter, Leona

Thompson. Marrying Mary Lou was the best thing that has happened to me,

in my life. After college, we lived in Willows, Sacramento and Fair Oaks,

California. I have worked in the accounting, credit and teaching fields.My

credit for teaching in the San Juan Unified School District in Suburban

Sacramento was 27-years. I worked mostly in the elementary grades. For the

past nine-years, I have done substitute teaching for the Sacramento

County Schools.

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My experience in teaching has ranged from pre-school to

the university levels. I have elementary, secondary, and administrative

credentials. Also, I was a summer school principal for several years. In the

County Schools, I have worked in special education. That assignment

includes vocational education and juvenile court schools. I like the variety of

these substitute teaching assignments.

My wife and children are the "wind beneath my wings." The family

members are: Gayle Soren, husband Ron, they have eight children; Keith

Shaw, wife Sandy Smith, they have five children; Holly Miller, husband

Eldon, they have three children; Scott Shaw, wife Julia Guastella, they have

two girls; Michael Shaw, wife Margo Flake, are expecting their first child.

Each of the above has attended college and several will be graduated from

various advanced programs.

The Fair Oaks area has been a good place in which to raise our

children. They graduated from high school and were active in Church,

Young Women's and Young Men's organizations, priesthood activities, etc.

All have been married in the temples of the Church.

Life has been good for Bob and Mary Lou. We have been married for

43-years, and counting. One of the passions of our lives is traveling. We

save up and, when the opportunity presents itself, we fly to distant places

and enjoy ourselves. Mary Lou earned her college degree in her 40's. She

has worked as an adult education teacher for twenty years and loves her job.

Lou is also a skilled florist, having learned that business in her teen-age

years. She has taught a weekly genealogy class in adult education for over

five years. A consistent attendance of about 20-people is maintained. She

also teaches oil painting, arts and crafts and assists an activities director at a

local nursing home. One of her goals is to work into her 70's, or beyond.

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I have also been interested in my "roots. Many family members have,

over the years, been kind to give me information about my family's history.

Frankly, I have much to do in organizing and using the data, in the most

useful ways. As a beginning, short histories of my father and brother have

been published. I also have worked with Mary Lou in compiling and editing

histories on her side of the family. It is our goal to get more of such accounts

written for family use and also to place copies in libraries and Family

History Centers.

"Not to know what happened before we were born is to remain perpetually

a child. For what is the worth of a human life unless it is woven into the life

of our ancestors..." Cicero, Roman statesman and orator

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My Story by Robert k Shaw 6/15/1993