Norma Shaw

Berlin – Norma Shaw, 88, a lifelong resident of Berlin, NY, died on Tuesday, December 13, 2011, at the Bennington Health and Rehabilitation Center in Bennington, VT, after an extended illness.
Born in Berlin on April 16, 1923, she was the daughter and only child of the late Byron and Violet Manchester Shaw. After attending Berlin schools, Norma started working for the former Taconic Telephone Corp. in 1946 as an operator in the Berlin office. When the propane truck explosion happened in Berlin on July 25, 1962, Norma left her home to work the switchboards at the phone company coordinating fire and emergency responders from surrounding areas. The office eventually relocated to New Lebanon, NY, and then Chatham, NY, where Norma retired in 1988 after 42 years of service. She was the former Treasurer of the Berlin Senior Citizens, taught swimming for the local Red Cross and was a former Campfire leader. Norma was an active member of the Town of Berlin’s Fourth of July Parade, and she loved to travel to Maine. Her hobbies included working with leather and ceramics.
Survivors include her cousins, Ann Oliver of Schenectady, NY, and Fern Durward and Jack Elwell, both of Port Orange, FL, her friends, Connie Jorgensen of Saratoga Springs, NY, and Bobby Jorgensen from the State of Florida, along with neighbor and caregiver, Anne M. Maxon of Berlin.
Funeral services will be on Sunday, December 18, at 2 pm in the Thomas M. Barber Funeral Home, 66 Armsby Road, Petersburgh, NY, where Rev. Matthew Olson, pastor of the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Berlin, will officiate. Private burial will take place in the Berlin Baptist Cemetery.
Relatives and friends are invited to the funeral home for visitation on Sunday starting at 1 pm.