Mrs. Sarah Ivern Shaw was born March 24, 1937, to Jake Brown and Joseph Vena Holloway Brown. Ivern was born and raised in the Chinquapin community of San Augustine County until moving to the Blackjack area of Nacogdoches County.
Ivern married Buster (Wilton Patrick) Shaw and they remained in Blackjack rearing children Norris Patrick and Shelly Lavern. Ivern was always a hard worker and was a poultry farmer for many years. Upon retiring she continued to keep busy sitting with the elderly, mowing yards, or helping anyone that she could.
Ivern always loved pretty flowers and had something blooming in her yard nearly all the time. Ivern raised a large vegetable garden and ‘put up’ and canned enough vegetables, especially tomatoes, each year to last throughout the winter.
Ivern loved to play volleyball in small-town tournaments, pitch washers, and family gatherings. While she spent most of her time outdoors, if she was inside you can bet she was watching western movies, enjoying anything starring John Wayne and had watched ‘Lonesome Dove’ too many times to count.
Having been raised by depression era poor farmers, Ivern would not frivolously spend money. ‘Frivolous’ meaning the electric bill! She never voluntarily used her central heat and air, leading to many times of kidding from her family. Instead preferring to heat by the fireplace and cool by a box fan.
Ivern enjoyed cutting and gathering firewood each year with her son and grandkids - insisting that she did not have enough to make it through the winter, only to have an ample supply proven by all that was leftover each year for the next season.
Ivern hand-stitched many quilt tops while sitting in front of the fireplace over the years, and enjoyed quilting them with her mother.
Being an avid outdoors person, ’Mamaw’ spent countless hours in the woods with her grandkids teaching them to build bird blinds, explore, and how to live off the land. They will surely miss her. Ivern had a kind character and made everyone that she spoke with feel better in hard times.
We will always believe that grieving heart-breaking loss over a 13 month period led to her having dementia. Beginning with the loss of her beloved daughter, Shelly, in September 2009, followed by losing her mother, Vena, only five months later in February 2010. The final blow was losing her husband, Buster, in October 2010 - while recovering from a broken hip. Also preceding her in death are Jake Brown, her father; Archie, Alfred, Norris, Morris, Lenard, and Clarence, her brothers; and Mattie and Ruth, her sisters.
Left to cherish her memory are: son and daughter-in-law, Pat and Mona; grandchildren, Mason, Kacee, Logan, Dustin, Alicia, Ralin, and Haven; brothers: Harlester, Paul, Wayne, and Nolan; and several great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Ivern died from side effects of dementia on September 12, 2020, in Shelby County. Ivern and Buster were affiliated with Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church,
Visitation will be held Wednesday, September 16, 2020, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Wyman Roberts Funeral Home, located at 316 W. Columbia Street in San Augustine, Texas.
Funeral services are set for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, September 16, 2020, at the Wyman Roberts Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at Attoyac Cemetery, located on FM 3316 in San Augustine County, Texas.
Graciously serving as pallbearers are Kenneth Blankenship, David Perkins, Micah Ricks, Michael Sanford, Mason Shaw, and Logan Shaw.
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