LaVerne Shaw
LaVerne Jane Shaw was a “one-of-a-kind” person who brought unmatchable blessings to all around her for the 85-plus years of her life.
She was born on Sunday, Aug. 23, 1936, to James William and Edith Alfredia Stewart and passed from this life on Monday, May 16, 2022.
She was born in the farming community of Loyal (in the same house her father had been born in) and was one of five children, including a brother who died in a childhood accident before she was born.
She graduated from high school in Omega.
Shortly afterward, while visiting her father, who had then taken up residence in California, she met Ralph Shaw (who was in California as part of his service with the Navy but also happened to be an Oklahoma boy).
After a brief courtship, they were married on Thursday, June 30, 1955.
It was a marriage that was to last for the rest of her life (nearly 67 years).
They initially settled in California and lived in Norwalk, welcoming their much-adored daughter (and their only child), Kathy Dawn Shaw, in 1958.
In 1962 they returned to Oklahoma and settled in Del City, where they raised their daughter and where they lived for 28 years.
During that time, while Ralph was working at Fleming Foods, LaVerne found employment at Tinker Air Force Base, where she worked for 42 years.
She held various positions at TAFB over those years, including working at the Officers’ Club, coordinating the local effort for the Office of Personnel Management’s Combined Federal Campaign (a major workplace charitable giving campaign for federal employees and retirees), and serving as protocol officer.
She enjoyed her work tremendously and was proud to be a civilian who was able to serve her country doing a job that she loved.
Reciprocally, the staff at TAFB (including many of the high-ranking officers who respectfully referred to her as “Ms. Shaw”) loved her so much that, when she announced her intent to retire, they begged her to stay on for just a bit longer, which she readily agreed to.
Even while working full time for TAFB she always found time to spend with family and friends.
If she wasn’t spending time (on the phone or in-person) with her parents (including the two stepmothers whom she adored), her siblings, her extended family or her friends (many of whom were part of the family as far as she was concerned), she could nearly always be found with her daughter and her son-in-law, her grandchildren and (later) her great-grandchildren.
Above all, she was tirelessly devoted to her family and her constant love, attention and support were so defining as to be indelibly imprinted on all those who were blessed enough to share this life with her.
The legacy of goodness that poured from her for so many years is the only balm that now assuages the unfathomable sense of loss that those of us left behind now feel after her departure.
LaVerne was preceded in death by her brother, Bobby Stewart (who died in childhood before she was born); her stepfather, Orvalle T. Stewart; her mother, Edith Alfredia Stewart (née Edsall); her stepmother, Letty Louise Stewart (née Bosshammer); her father, James William Stewart; her second stepmother, Bertha Stewart (née Boyer); and her brother, Elmer William Stewart.
She is survived by her husband, Ralph D. Shaw, her sister and brother-in-law Rose Marie and Lenord Seedorf, her sister and brother-in-law Arlene Faye and Dr. Larry Biehler, her daughter and son-in-law Kathy and Alan Hoffhines. Also, her grandchildren Adam Hoffhines and his wife Heather, Aran Hoffhines and his wife Kari, Austin Hoffhines, and Emily Cooper (née Hoffhines) and her husband Nicholas Cooper; and seven great-grandchildren, Clara, Coralee, and Maxson Hoffhines, Caden and Aspen Hoffhines, and Calan and Charlet Cooper.
A funeral service was Saturday, May 21, at Church of Christ at Oakdale, Edmond.