Verner "Lee" Shaw Jr.

JULY 18, 1943 JUNE 17, 2017

Lee was born in Townsville, Australia during WWII to Verner L. Shaw, a US soldier from Texas, and Thelma Louise Patterson, a native Australian. To escape Japanese bombings, his Dad sent them to live with his family in East Texas when Lee was only 18 months old. Lee lived in Waco and Durham, North Carolina growing up, then moved to San Antonio where he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1962. After a brief time at San Antonio Junior College, he joined the U.S. Air Force serving in the “Crypto” field. His career took him to the Philippines and to Johnson Island in the Pacific, then back to Texas to Wichita Falls.

In 1972, Lee married Cheryl King (Sherry), whom he dated in college (but that is another story), and they began their travels together. They were transferred to Anchorage, Alaska then to Biloxi, Mississippi where Lee cross-trained into Ground Radio, even teaching it for a while. Their next posting was to Sembach AB in Germany. They were there for 4 years and Sherry dragged Lee to almost every ruined castle and cathedral in Germany. They traveled from Bremerhaven on the North Sea to Berchtesgaden and the “Concentration Camp Dachu” in Bavaria. They toured Paris and took the ferry to England where they visited London, Bath, Stratford upon Avon, and visited the Salisbury Plain to see Stonehenge. Their travels took them to the beautiful tulip gardens in Holland, Paris in the springtime and the Palace of Versailles. They toured Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria and were delighted to arrive in Brussels in time to see the “Grand Platz” covered in a carpet of flowers. The last year they were in Europe, Lee and Sherry went to Italy, to Venice, Florence, Rome, Pompeii, Capri and Pisa. It was now time to go back to the USA.

Lee's final assignment was to Hurlbert Field, on the Florida Gulf Coast. There he worked for the new 53rd Wing of the 8th Air Force which was instrumental in “Desert Storm”. It was there he formally retired after 25 years and 19 days on active duty. Lee and Sherry returned to San Antonio to try retirement. After 3 months, Lee decided to become a car salesman, but found that he wasn't aggressive enough. The City of San Antonio was hiring Electronic Technicians at the S.A. International Airport. Lee breezed through the test and the interview to become an employee of the City. He worked there for 15 years, retiring as a Radio Dispatcher for the Airport Police / Fire Department.

Lee and Sherry and her Mother bought a home abutting McAllister Park and after a couple of years, they learned that a large earthen dam was to be built about 50 ft. from their rear fence and about 40 to 50 ft. high. Lee took on the task of forming a Neighborhood Association to serve as a bigger voice with the dam builders (SARA), the City Council, and any other entity concerned with what was now the Blossom Park Neighborhood Association. After getting the Sierra Club, the City Arborist and others involved, San Antonio River Authority pushed the dam footprint farther into the park and the heritage trees were saved. Plus half of the neighborhood retained their beautiful park views. Lee was the first President of the new Association, a position he held multiple times over the next 20 years.

His hobbies and interests were many and varied – Amateur Radio, Computers, and more. He loved anything to do with astronomy and space, early written science fiction and all SciFi T.V. shows and movies (good or bad), the study of rocks and gems, and Edgar Rice Burroughs books. Lee enjoyed comic book characters and almost all types of music from Rock to Opera. One of his favorite things was to feed the squirrels, birds and deer, as well as providing a buffet for the racoons and possums. If something interested him, he would study everything he could about it and was more than willing to share his knowledge with you. The computers provided access to the worlds of information and hours of entertainment. Lee's amateur radios allowed him the opportunity to talk to friends locally or far away and to make new ones around the world, all before the advent of cell service. Lee was somewhat quiet and private, preferring to watch a movie at home to going out to “party”. He was a kind and very gentle man who will be greatly missed by his Sherry and by his dear neighbors and friends world-wide. An only child, he is preceeded in death by his parents. Lee is survived by Sherry, his loving wife of 45 years, his aunt Betty Shaw, cousins in both the US and Australia, and his “fur babies” (four adopted kitties). Lee passed away from complications of a massive heart attack; in lieu of flowers we ask that you please select a plant or make a contribution in his name to the American Heart Association.

It was Lee's wish to be cremated and a Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, June 30 at 11 AM and with a small reception to follow at the Sunset North Funeral Home.