Siby and John began dating a few times while John worked at the Target warehouse and he eventually moved to an apartment in Brooklyn Park (or Brooklyn Center...I always get those confused).  During this time John contracted spinal menengitis and it was Siby who found him at his apartment in bad shape and got him to the emergency room. It was at this time that they realized how much they cared for each other and their love began to blossom.  They got married and started the household at Mounds Ave in New Brighton and through the years supported their children from both sides of previous marriages.  As time moved on John and Siby worked hard at their respective jobs looking toward retirement and their golden years. Siby was able to retire early at the ripe age of 55 and John retired 3 years later. They loved to travel so being the retired folks they were, they went on many golf trips In Southern climes in the early Spring and also trips to visit family or just see the sights of our country.  They loved their grandchildren and, once retired, they had the time to be with them more. In 2009 John was diagnosed with lung cancer but he went through surgery and fought it. John was a lung cancer survivor in his fifth year of good tests and the whole family was so relieved to hear the good results.  They were very excited to be travelling to D.C. this year and to show Katrina all that Washington D.C. has to offer.  They were returning from that trip and passing through Indy to visit relatives when this tragedy took them from us. Our family is still shocked, depressed, and at a loss as to why these wonderful people were taken from us so soon. A sad note to end this story.  I miss my brother and Siby greatly and they leave a huge hole in my heart and in my life

Saved that one...and found the elevator bar at the right indicating I've said enough. On to the story:  John and Annetta moved to Colorado and this is where John found his teaching degree of no use so he started working with a sheet metal firm and became a member of the sheetmetal workers union. I lived with them in Denver for about a year, John/Annetta and with Jim and Paul Goethels in a house on Gilpin. During this time they brought Jefferson into the world and life was moving on so John and Annetta moved back to Minnesota.  John found a job with Itasca Heating and Cooling in Grand Rapids and they bought a house in Deer River. After some time I spent in Idaho Falls, Idaho I was also moving on and John was needing to expand his house for his expanding family. So, brother Dan comes to live with them again to help add to their Deer River home. During this time I celebrated with them their new twin sons, Jeremy and Jacob. Once the house was complete, and me going through a number of odd jobs around Deer River and Grand Rapids I found a computer job with the state of Minnesota and moved to St Paul. We stayed in touch more frequently through visits and letters (not a lot of emails back then).  The years moved on and I met Donna and settled down to live on 3rd street in Bloomington. It was sometime in 1984 I think when John and Annetta parted ways and John came to the cities to find work on the sheetmetal workers bench. He came to live with us for a few months as he got settled and while he was on the bench he found a temp job at a Target warehouse. This is where he met Siby.  On to part 4 according to the elevator bar.
 

Learned the hard way that there must be a word limit on these that I didn't see. Part 1 only gets us to our first years together. Starting part 2.
So, John always being 2 years ahead of me in school, he graduated as the first class to graduate from the new Ben Davis High School and went off to Purdue University in the Fall of 1966. It was at this point where John and I lost contact for a few years.  We visited him on campus and he was home for the summer but by then we were both working during the summer.  John was in his third year at Purdue when I became draft status 1A in Spring of1969. I was not able to fail my draft physical so knew I was heading to VietNam as a warm body. So, my choice was to use the tech school training in computers that I had just graduated from and joined the Air Force instead.  Being in college, John was part of the 60s peace movement so it didn't sit well with him that I joined so we moved further apart for a few years. It was not until the end of my military career before we spoke much. So, I get out of the service and during those times it was still not appreciated by anyone that I was a former GI.  John and I were back to speaking terms and he invited me up to Happy Farm in Cromwell, Minnesota where I met a lot of great people all trying to figure out their life paths while partying with Buckhorn beer at $3.99 a case.  This is where he met Annetta and when the farm was disolving they moved to Colorado for John to find work. 

John and I grew up on the west side of Indy in a small suburb they used to call Tremont.  We had what I would consider a typical sibling life in those early days. Some playing together, some egging each other on and many kid fights. We were both very into playing baseball and were on local leagues for years, sometimes on the same teams and many times separate teams so Mom and Dad would have to get us to the appropriate places and swap back and forth watching the games. John played a great first base in those years. As we grew older and John went to Junior High and then a separate High school he was the first Shaw to make an impression on those teachers. I can remember many times the teachers asking if I was Johnny Shaw's brother...many times I was worried if that meant they were expecting a trouble maker or expecting me to get A's or B's because he did.  It was some of both. 

John Leonard Shaw

Age 66 of New Brighton.  On June 21st, John died suddenly along with his beloved wife, Siby.  He was preceded in death by his parents Arvis and Duerene Shaw.  John was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He attended Purdue University, was a member of the Theta Xi fraternity, and graduated with a degree in English Literature.  He spent the majority of his professional life as a tinbender with Sheet Metal Workers Local #10, much of that time with Gilbert Mechanical in Bloomington until retiring in 2006.  John was a devoted grandfather, a peaceful gardener, a wise teacher, an avid golfer and an ardent road tripper.  There will be a celebration of everything this wonderful man meant to us on Sunday, July 6th at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen.  A remembrance will be held in the Snyder Auditorium at 2 pm.  Please feel free to arrive early and walk the grounds as it was a favorite place of John’s and he received much inspiration there.  John is survived by brothers Dan (Donna) and Martin (Tracey) Shaw, sister Judy (Kenneth) Rozelle, sons Jefferson, Jeremy (Kendra) and Jacob Shaw, step-son Jason (Jenny) Bever, step-daughters Amy Bever and Susan Malloy, cherished grandchildren Katrina, Tarence, Millie, Erin, Alexandra, Brett, Owen and Maudi.  Also the families and extended families of those listed and many, many dear friends.  His memory will live on in all our hearts forever.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in the name of John and Sylvia Shaw.