Kathleen Ada Shaw (Cathy Shaw, Coach Shaw)
Kathleen Ada Shaw died Thursday, December 20th, of endometrial cancer. She was the daughter of Ada Pye Shaw and Eddie T. Shaw. She was born and lived most of her life in the Chicago area. She is survived by her wife, Martha Keenan Anderson; in-laws and their children and grandchildren; and numerous foster siblings.
She was a graduate of Immaculata High School, Chicago, Clarke College and University of Dubuque, Dubuque, IA, and Teachers College, Columbia University, NYC, where she obtained an MA in education and curriculum design in 1982. For twenty-five great years of her career she taught physical education at Martin Luther King, Jr., Laboratory School (King Lab), in Evanston, IL, from which she retired in 2012.
Kathleen and Martha, her partner and wife for more than 20 years, moved to Carbondale, IL, in July 2014, for Martha to pursue a graduate degree in counseling.
Kathleen loved singing, sports, and woodworking. She received classical voice training at The Julliard School, NYC. She loved solo and ensemble work and was a founding member of Chicago’s UNISON Lesbian and Gay Chorus and Aria, which are affiliated with Windy City Performing Arts. In sports she was good at any game that featured a ball. She competed in the Pan Am Games in volleyball, (ca.1975), and in the Olympics in basketball (1976). She was a lifelong White Sox fan. Woodworking was a relatively recent love and she started her company, Shawdust, to create small decorative wooden boxes and urns.
In 1977-78 she went to India as a soloist with the Clarke-Loras Singers. She returned and taught for a year at American University, Delhi, and at the same time, she lived with and worked for Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity. Her primary job for the sisters was to make gruel at 4:00 every morning.
Kathleen will be missed by Martha, her family, and the thousands of friends she made from all walks of life; but in the sure and certain hope of life everlasting, she is
being greeted now by the friends and family members who preceded her. Thanks be to God.
Services will be at 2:00pm Saturday, December 29th at the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, 105 North Parrish Lane, Carbondale, IL. Visitation will be Saturday from 1:00pm to the start of service. A second service will be held in Evanston, Illinois at a future date. For those who prefer, please consider a memorial to the Strong Survivors Fund/SIU Foundation, Colyer Hall, 1235 Douglas Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901.
Walker Funeral Home and Crematory entrusted with arrangements.
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