Betty Lou Shaw
By Ron Hayes
DELRAY BEACH — Betty Lou Shaw, a professional fashion model, devoted wife, loving mother and longtime area resident, died May 23 at her home in the Delray Beach Club apartments.
She was 88 and remained active until shortly before her death.
“Growing up, all my friends said, ‘I wish we had a mother like you have,’” recalled her son, Chris Shaw, of suburban Boca Raton. “She made them feel welcome in our home. I know everyone says that, but she truly was extraordinary. There aren’t too many in the world like her.”
Mrs. Shaw was born July 22, 1923, in Detroit, Mich. She pursued a successful modeling career in the 1940s and ‘50s in New York City, but returned to Michigan to raise three children with her husband, William R. Shaw II, a certified public accountant.
The couple came to Palm Beach County in 1976, residing first at the 3000 S. Ocean condominium in Boca Raton. In 1977, they built a home in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, where they lived until Mr. Shaw’s death in 1993, after which Mrs. Shaw moved to the Delray Beach Club.
Mrs. Shaw was a volunteer at Boca Raton Community Hospital, active with the Red Cross and did some occasional modeling during her retirement.
“She played tennis for many years and exercised her whole life,” her son said. “She had a personal trainer until about three years ago. That’s why she was so healthy all her life.”
In April, she and her children enjoyed a Caribbean cruise to Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel.
“She almost had an aura about her,” said her son. “She really cared about everyone, and everything.”
In addition to Christopher Shaw, she is survived by a second son, Tom, of California, a daughter, Julie, of Kentucky, as well as her longtime companion, David Kinkaid, of Delray Beach.
A celebration of Mrs. Shaw’s life was held May 26 at First Presbyterian Church of Pompano Beach.
The family requests that donations in her memory be made to Hospice by The Sea of Boca Raton, 1531 W. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, 33486.
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