Betty Jean Shaw, of Westminster, Maryland, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, at Dove House Hospice on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at the age of 77.

Born in Goodrich, Michigan, she was the daughter of Harry Stanard & Anna Ruth (Hunt) Stanard. She was raised in and around the Goodrich area with her older brothers Charles & Robert, and graduated from Goodrich High School in 1965. Shortly after graduation, she married James Scharf and later in 1966, gave birth to her first child. With that relationship ending in 1968, Betty moved to Baltimore, Maryland to continue her 33-year career with the Social Security Administration where she filled many roles, including being one of the pioneering women in computer programming.

On June 21, 1969 she married her late husband Kenneth Laurence Shaw with whom she had three children. Settling on a horse farm in rural Carroll County, Maryland in 1972, Betty and Ken founded Oxford Owl Stables and as a hobby, raised thoroughbred horses which produced 37 winner's circles over the next 10 years. When not devoting her time to 4-H club and being a spectator at countless little league games, Betty was an avid reader, a lover of travel that took her throughout Europe, to Hawaii and many points in between. In retirement, she enjoyed cruising on motorcycles, visiting Irish pubs, and playing golf with her long-term companion Clarence "Butch" Nazelrod at her Florida home in the Villages, and more than anything else, taking pride in her grandchildren.

Betty is survived by her brother and sister-in-law Robert & Patricia Stanard, of Daytona Beach, Florida, and four children: Daughter Cynthia (Shaw) Planta and her husband Ralph Planta of Hampstead, daughter Kirsten Shaw and her husband Neil Kittredge of Brooklyn, New York, son Kenneth Shaw III and his wife Jennifer Dolce of Bel Air, son Wade Shaw and his wife Jamie (Ludwig) Shaw of New Windsor, and nine grandchildren.

A private ceremony will be held at Meadow Branch Cemetery in Westminster, on Sunday, June 29, 2025. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that those who wish to express sympathy consider making a donation to the Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine, Maryland in Betty Shaw's name.