Elsie Babbitt Shaw

Beloved Charlotte native and artist extraordinaire Elsie Shaw passed away Saturday morning. Daughter of Charlotte mayor Victor Shaw and Elsie Aileene Babbitt, Elsie made her home in New Smyrna Beach FL and spent her last years with her niece in Gastonia. Born in Dec 1929, Elsie graduated Salem Academy in Winston-Salem NC, attended Mt. Vernon Jr. College and received her BA from Rollins College in Winter Park FL. An exceptional golfer, Elsie won tournaments across the Carolinas. She studied portrait painting in Sarasota FL under Jerry Farnsworth and took classes at the Ringling Museum. She won many awards including the Piedmont Purchase from the Mint Museum of Art, the Alabama National (Mobile AL), the Juried Arts National (Tyler TX), the Winter Park Festival (FL), the Springs Annual (SC), the North Carolina Annual (Raleigh), the Gulf Coast Annual, the Savannah Coastal Empire Annual, the Mid-Florida Builders Assoc. Winning Design, the New Smyrna Beach Festival, the Salmagundi Club Prize from the Nat'l Academy of Design in New York and the Grumbacher Gold Medal, Daytona Beach FL. Her works grace the walls of many a home in Charlotte and across the country. She is probably best known in Charlotte for her sculptures of Hugh McManaway at the corner of Queens & Queens & Providence and "Miss Anne & Dan" a few blocks down at Queens University. Public pieces in Florida cities Tallahassee, Daytona, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond Beach and Port Orange are just as endearing, capturing the attitudes and emotions that are trademarks of Elsie's work. A listing of the museums, corporate and private collections enjoying Elsie's work would fill this page. Always the entertainer, Elsie was a joy to be around. The party started when she entered the room. Elsie loved people and all their funny ways, as is evident in her art. Her favorite motto was "no fool, no fun". We will miss her opera-singing voice, her infectious laugh and her quick repartee. Those of us so lucky will carry our favorite "elsie-isms" with us always. She is survived by her nephew & niece, Victor Shaw III & wife Marsha, Babbitt Shaw Johnston and husband Tom, loving cousins and a multitude of friends. There will be a graveside service at Elmwood Cemetery at noon on Monday. A memorial service for her friends in Florida will be arranged at a later date. No flowers please. Memorials should be sent to UNC-TV, 10 TW Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 as Elsie greatly enjoyed their programming these last few years or, as would really please her, support your local artists!