Time Machine: Mexico Beach August 1987

We had been here the summer before with Daddy. Now he was gone and we came again. It was bittersweet to be there without him. I am adding these pictures in 2023; they were in a box of pictures that have been stored for several years.  I would welcome more pictures from this trip (and any other family pictures!) from my siblings. 

I love this picture of my youngest sister, Sharlyn Beth Shaw with her daughter Amanda Ruth Hearn. It is so hard to accept (in 2023) that Beth is gone. 

Steven Dow Turrentine with his girlfriend, LaDonna Raburn, hunting shells.

I took advantage of Joey's predicament to attach horns to his noggin. Joseph Thomas Johnston and Charles Terrell Shaw.

My sister Joan with her son Steve. Lynda Joan Shaw (Turrentine) with Steven Dow Turrentine)

Jessica Ruthanne Shaw  (Is that Benjamin Allan Lewis behind her?) 

Steve and LaDonna outside the Windsong condos at Mexico Beach.

Vicki Brown Shaw caught smiling with Jessica Ruthanne Shaw on a seafront balcony of Windsong condos. 

L-R: Deborah Ruth (Debi) Shaw (Lewis, Vicki Brown (Shaw), Jessica Ruthanne Shaw, Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson (Shaw), Sarah Ruth Baird (Shaw) This is on the oceanfront balcony at Windsong condos.

James Edward Shaw. 

I think Uncle James may have been feeding the gulls.

LaDonna and Larisa Carron Johnston (Feathersone)  -- I think.

Carol with Lisette

Steve with Amanda

L-R: Debi, Joan, Vicki, Jessica

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Time Machine: Georgia Democratic Committee 1987

 

Newspaper Archive: Democratic Hall of Fame

 

Mary Elizabeth Baird Shepherd: September 26, 1912 - November 12, 1985

 

The Bookmobile

 

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

 

by Sarah Ruth Baird Shaw, August 11, 1985

This is a transcription of two handwritten pages. The original wording and punctuation were retained where legible.

Page 1

Yesterday, in Aug 1985, my 74 yr old sister & I went in early to see our sister for the first time after her disfiguring facial surgery. The doctor & her nurse had tried to prepare us for what we would see — the swelling. We were not prepared — My sister took one look — turned pale and started for the door but turned back — came to the bed and told Mary how much she loved her and would stay with her. I held Mary’s hand (strapped down beside her) and stroked her brow and still auburn hair and told her that I loved her.

I remembered what she had said before going into surgery. “I asked God to go with me — and He said He would.”

Later I was just overwhelmed with the fragileness of life and I ached and cried with my sister and two

[Continued on page 2]

Page 2

of my brothers (age 80 & 71) and a sister-in-law, and several nephews & nieces.

Then in prayer this morning, I remembered Victor Frankl’s experience in a prison camp — his experience of the presence of God in incredible beauty in the midst of the most gruesome of circumstances — frozen feet — protruding bones — frostbite — hunger — lice —

Our minds are too little to comprehend it — but if the eternal God is with us — we can not just endure — but can actually experience incredible peace and joy in the midst of suffering — and are better off than the most beautiful & healthy young person in the world if that person is lost — spiritually diseased & spiritually dead.

Family identification notes

The patient was our aunt, Mary Elizabeth Baird Shepherd. The accompanying 74-year-old sister was very likely our Aunt Vek (Vera Mae Baird Loyd).  Mary and Vek lived very near each other in Rockmart during the last years of Mary’s life. The brothers (ages 80 and 71) were probably Uncle Bill (William Bogan Baird) and Uncle Charlie (Charles Morrison Baird), both living in the Atlanta area. The sister-in-law may have been Aunr Ruth, Uncle Charlie's wife. These names were not written on these pages.

Editorial note: 

This was a very rough first draft with words crossed out, words written above the live, and so forth. Since the word "type" is written above the page it is likely Mother rewrote this later, but I have not found it.

Time Machine: Max Cleland

In 1985, the year that I was president of the Floyd County Democratic Association, Secretary of State Max Cleland was kind enough to inscribe a portrait of himself to me. Although he and I are not directly related to my knowledge I think our families have some connections. My Shaws and the Cleland's lived in the Lithonia area. My grandfather's first cousin Lou Shaw married a Cleland. So I suspect our families are connected by marriage at least, but I have not established the link. So, when I was working on my "family tree" I called Max's father, Joseph Hughie Cleland, and had a great time talking with him by phone about our possible family connections. He was a very friendly, articulate, and knowledgeable fellow. We were both pretty sure there was a connection, but did not get it figured out.

 

Time Machine: Jefferson-Jackson Dinner 1985

I finished up my year as president of the Floyd County Democratic Association with this annual dinner. I was thrilled to attract Lt. Gov. Zell Miller as the keynote speaker.

Lt. Gov. Zell Miller, Congressman Buddy Darden, and DNR Commissioner Joe Tanner
each inscribed my program.

 

Campaign Advice from Uncle Mac

A much earlier painting of Uncle Mac by Ralph Wolfe Cowan (from my iPhone photo)

Sheila’s Uncle Mac (husband of Wilma, the sister of Sheila's mother Mavis) sent me this letter today (and I would pull it from an old box of papers in 2026) and enclosed a helpful <wink> guide to campaigning in case I ever had a second political race. I lost the 1984 race. What a shame I didn't have this important advice a year earlier!  

Gleaning Facebook: McHenry Kaleidoscope

One of my small Kaleidoscope classes at McHenry School during the (about) 1984-85 year. L-R: Julie Oswald, Alexis Sapp, Terrell Shaw, Ethan Popham.

This is from a post on the McHenry School Facebook page on November 16, 2009. I do not know the exact date so I'll post it to this date in 1984.

 

Time Machine: Family picture

I do not know the exact date of this picture. Brannon was born August 4, 1983 and I am guessing we are dressed for fall weather. This photo was taken in Mobley Hall at Trinity United Methodist Church, Rome, Georgia. 

 

Time Machine: Endorsements

 

On that same day ...

Time Machine: Terrell at 37

Rummaging around -- many years in the future 2025 -- in that room upstairs where we keep a lot of odds and ends, I will happen upon this group of pictures that I will have NO memory of. Examining the pictures I will note:

• They are obviously posed for some special purpose.
• I am at my rolltop desk in our old house on Cedar Avenue.
• The framed document on the wall is my Marshall Forest Stewardship Award from 1981.
• My glasses, hairstyle, and clothing are similar to pictures from my 1984 race for Georgia House of Representatives (I will lose to Paul Smith.)

I ended up hiring a professional photographer to take some good pics for my campaign literature like this brochure. 

So I will conclude these underexposed shots must have been made for the campaign and rejected as too dark. 

So I'll date this post as 1984 -- maybe today?

 

Time Machine: Kaleidoscope Trip to Washington DC

This was one of our Floyd County Kaleidoscope Program trips to our nation's capital. I do not know the exact date but one of the students says it was the trip we made in the spring of 1984. We posed on the capitol steps with our Congressman George "Buddy" Darden. I will appreciate help identifying everyone. L-R Standing at the top:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Terrell Shaw, teacher
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Bottom to top, standing on the steps
12. Congressman Darden
13. Lianne Norton, teacher 
14. Anita (Bo) Stewart, teacher
15. Jean Love, teacher
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23. Jean Palmer, teacher
Bottom to top sitting on steps 24. Charles Blaylock, teacher 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

Facebook Comments from February 1, 2014

Anita Stewart
remember the trips to D.C..... what great experiences we had as we showed our Kaleidoscope students around Washington.

Terrell Shaw
I loved those trips to DC and to Savannah.

Sabrina Shropshire Cheves
Holy moly! I still have that picture and remember that trip very well.Tagging: Hillary Paris Thomas, Heather Lowe Mcdurmon, Steve Jenson, Shane Mize,

Shane Mize
I remember that trip. One thing I do remember most was the long bus ride. Someone started a poker game and I think I ended up being the big winner.

Sabrina Shropshire Cheves
I remember being late back to the bus at the end of the day at the zoo and also spending much of my time trying to sit next to Joel. Haha! Good to see everyone on here. Wow...Time flies, doesn't it?

Jimmy Rhoades
I think it was 1984 maybe?

Talya Pharr Bray
Spring of 1984-8th grade. Such a fun trip!