She was empathetic and indomitable, her family and friends said, and driven to serve by what her husband called her “vibrant personality.” Camellia L. Shaw, 91, of Merion, teacher, volunteer, mentor, and innovative longtime leader at White Rock Baptist Church, died Wednesday, Sept. 10, of age-associated decline at her home.
Mrs. Shaw was empathetic and indomitable, her family and friends said, and driven to serve by what her husband called her “vibrant personality.” She embraced assignments, everyone said, and spent nearly 70 years creating social and faith-based development programs at White Rock Baptist in West Philadelphia, tending to others in church mission services around the world, and comforting anyone she encountered in distress.
She married the Rev. William J. Shaw, the longtime pastor at White Rock Baptist, in 1957, and together they formed a leadership team that maneuvered the local congregation and the National Baptist Convention through decades of changes and challenges. She was an expert in fashion design, education, and home economics, and she founded White Rock’s Special Projects Committee that promoted “joyful fellowship in activities that respond to individuals and/or church needs.”
She designed the church’s new daycare and child development programs, was active in the music program, and taught home economics classes. The Special Projects Committee provided sewing machines and fabric to colleagues in Jamaica and Haiti, organized fellowship events for congregants and seniors, and made counseling services accessible to families. “Wherever she was,” her husband said, “she was a presence. She made everything around her light up.”
Colleagues at White Rock Baptist called her “magnanimous” and “the rock of White Rock Church” in online tributes. One said: “Mrs. Shaw was a classy lady full of hospitality and love.”
“She set a tone and unforgettable style example for many first ladies in our city and country.”
A colleague at White Rock Baptist Church on Mrs. Shaw
She spoke often at conferences and seminars, and personally mentored many people, especially women. In 1960, she was the featured speaker at a White Rock Baptist forum called “Where is the Woman’s Place Today?”
She and her husband traveled to church events around the world, and he said she made everything “easier.” In 1999, moments after being elected president of the National Baptist Convention in Tampa, he said: “My first concern is, where is my wife?”
Courtesy of the family
She studied fashion design and home economics, and graduated magna cum laude from Barber-Scotia College in Concord, N.C. In 1961, she earned a master’s degree in home economics at Drexel University and taught students at White Rock Baptist, the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association in Philadelphia, and elsewhere.
She believed, her family said in a tribute, “that education was the way to elevate one’s station in life.”
“Mrs. Shaw personified grace, style, warmth in a way that was natural and empowering.”
A colleague at White Rock Baptist Church
She volunteered with the local Big Brothers Big Sisters and earned an award as regional Big Sister of the Year. Before White Rock Baptist, she was active in mission services for Presbyterian churches in North Carolina and Georgia.
“The way she sowed seeds was more than remarkable,” said her daughter-in-law, Simone Bey. “She planted in me and plenty of others seeds of strength, love, and faith that blossomed in their season.”
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