Celebrating the Life of Rosemary Shaw
Celebrating the Life of Rosemary Davis Berner Shaw
February 14, 1936 – May 9, 2024
A Celebration of Life will take place a 4pm at St. John United Lutheran Church in the sanctuary. A reception will follow the service.
The service will be streamed live here: Rosemary Shaw Celebration of Life
We said goodbye to our devoted and loving Mom and Grammy on May 9, 2024. She passed peacefully from complications of Parkinson’s Dementia.
She was born February 14, 1936 in Lowell, Indiana to Doris and Neal Davis, and had twin older sisters, Marjorie and Betty.
As a teen, Posie – one of her nicknames – worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor in Lake Michigan and developed her passion for the cello. She continued to play cello throughout her life, performing in the Puget Sound area and touring in Europe several times with Orchestra Seattle and Seattle Chamber Singers.
After graduating from DePauw University, where she was a member of the Alpha chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta, she became a RN at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1956. She worked as a nurse in Baltimore, Chicago, Seattle, and then back to Baltimore where Carl was in medical training until 1966. Then, with a 6 year old, 2 year old, and newborn, she packed up the house with the help of her sister and flew by military transport to Berlin, joining her husband, Carl Berner, for the next 3 years in the U.S. Army.
As she raised four kids, she supported all of their passions and hosted colossal dinner parties. Following the end of her 31 year marriage and loss of the family home on Lake Sammamish to a fire, she returned to nursing for 20 years as a Charge Nurse in Orthopedic Trauma at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She also became a hiker, cross country skier, and rollerblader.
She continued her 68 year membership of Chapter GE of P.E.O. and honed her ability to arrange beautiful bouquets from flowers she’d find and clip wherever she went, with scissors kept in her car. Rosemary’s family grew. She married Larry Shaw in 1999 and shared life together until his death in 2018. She balanced nursing with caring for grandchildren who remember milkshakes at Houghton Beach, dying Easter eggs while hunting for Matilda the cat, and sleep-overs with fluffy pancakes and matching pjs. Cello music, good company at dinner, a blooming garden and a house full of family continued to bring joy into her later years.
Survived and missed by her children, Ann Counsell (Dick), Louis Berner (Leah), Amy Berner-Hays (Peter), and Sarah Wilborn Perry (John). Larry’s children, Joe (Mo), Cat (Jerry), Megan (John). Grandchildren, Alyson (Jay), Rachel, Micah, Max, Luke, Eliza, Cherish Maria, Talia, and Grace.
Her family gives thanks to the team at Broadview Adult Family Home for their attentive care.
A Celebration of Life will be at St. John United Lutheran Church on Phinney Ridge in Seattle, June 12th at 4pm. In honor of Rosemary and her love of “gathered” flowers, we invite you to bring a flower you “find” on your way, to arrange a collective bouquet.
Originally published by the Seattle Times on May 26, 2024.
