Well known teacher, runner, and writer Bill Shaw, 70, died at home surrounded by his family on Friday, May 14, 2010, following a courageous battle with cancer.
Born May 29, 1939, Shaw grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and graduated from Fair Park High School in 1957. After six months active duty in the United States Marine Corps, in California, he returned to Shreveport to serve out the remainder of his Marine Reserve term in active reserve until 1962 and in inactive reserve until 1964, when he received an honorable discharge with the rank of corporal.
He attended Centenary College in Shreveport and finished his BA in English, in the fall of 1963 and stepped immediately into an English teaching position at C.E. Byrd High School, Shreveport, teaching grades 11 and 12. In 1964 he married Jane Worley, also an English teacher and his devoted wife of forty-six years.
In 1964 the couple moved to Freeport, Texas where they were both hired to teach English at Brazosport High School. As Shaw taught grades 11 and 12 and Jane taught grades 10 and 11, he worked on his master’s degree at Texas A&M University from 1968 to 1972, receiving his MA in English in the summer of 1972. He taught at Brazosport College in its initial year of operation in 1968 and was hired full time at Brazosport College in the summer he received his master’s degree. He continued post graduate work at the University of Houston Central Campus, and completed 42 graduate hours in English above his master’s degree while teaching full time at Brazosport College from summer 1972 to spring 2003, at which time he advanced to the rank of professor. During his tenure at Brazosport College, he taught courses in fundamental English, freshman composition, British literature, American literature, world literature, creative writing, news reporting and news writing, and was twice nominated for the Piper Professor Award and received the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Teaching Excellence Award in 1994 and 1999. He served as editor of the Southern Association Self Study Report in 1983-84 and again in 1993-94. In addition, he developed the first distance learning courses for both the first and second semester of freshman composition. He also served as faculty advisor to the college newspaper, The Navigator, from 1997 to 2003 and stayed on part-time during the 2003 2004 academic year to teach journalism and to continue as newspaper advisor. In the fall of 2006, he also taught a Composition and Rhetoric Two class, and an American Literature I class for a teacher who was ill.
Nationally Shaw served as a member of the Academy of Poets and on the National Council of Teachers of English journal Teaching English in the Two Year College editorial board as consulting reader from 1996-2003, and as an active member of the NCTE regional organization. He also served as president of the Brazosport College Faculty Association.
Shaw has worked as a creative writer and journalist for most of his career and has published over 25 poems and one short story. He worked for The Facts newspaper as a regular columnist and correspondent for over 18 years, a staff writer for the Brazoria County feature magazine Image, and for the regional magazine Runner Triathlete News and for Inside Texas Running. He has published over 1500 articles.
Shaw retired from teaching in 2004 to devote himself more to writing and to polish his skills with computer programs and producing newsletters for the Brazosport Area Road Runners Association and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where he also served as Lay Minister Leader, Communication Chairman, member of the Evangelism Committee, and as a lay reader and chalice bearer.
In his early forties in 1982, Shaw described himself as a “born-again runner” and joined the Brazosport Area Road Runner Association, where he served in various capacities. He was a member of the Houston Triathlon Racing Club, the American Running Club and USA Triathlon, and has served as newsletter editor, webmaster and committee director for the BARRA Firecracker 4 (a four mile race on Independence Day), as registration coordinator for the Surfside Beach Marathon and Half Marathon, and as secretary and publicity chair for the Brazosport Relay Triathlon since 1999. He completed thirty-four triathlons and ten marathons, including the New York Marathon.
Shaw is not only survived by his wife, Jane; but also by his mother, Ruth Shaw, of Clute; daughter, Kathleen; and son-in-law, Sam David, of Freeport; daughter, Lisa Shaw and her partner Nancy Michon, of Houston; grandchildren, Sarah David, of Freeport; Valerie David, of Angleton; and Anna David, of Austin; great-grandchildren, Avery and Joshua Cuellar, of Angleton; brother-in-law, Tommy Crenshaw Sr., of Waskom, Texas; and nephews Tommy Gene Crenshaw Jr. and Noel Dean Crenshaw, also of Waskom.
There will be a celebration of life held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 19th at the Parish Hall of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Freeport, followed by a memorial service at 2:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the American Cancer Society or to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
