Mrs. Martha Etheridge Shaw, age 77, of Columbia, Tennessee passed away on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
Martha was born on July 11, 1943 to the late Herbert Thomas and Opal Ruth Corley Etheridge, in Panama City, Florida. In her younger years, she studied ballet and piano, being a lover of music. She met her best friend and the love of her life, Joe Mack Shaw and married him in 1961. They met when Mack moved to Panama City for work. It was love at first sight and they had a wonderful life together. Two months after their marriage, Mack was deployed to active duty with the National Guard and deployed to Fort Polk, Louisiana. He was able to find housing for them, and she followed shortly thereafter so they could spend their first year of marriage together.
Later, they moved to Columbia, Tennessee and became involved in working with the Lions Club. Martha held several positions in the Lioness Club over the years, including President. They made many friends across Middle Tennessee through their work with the Lions Club. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Columbia.
She attended both CSCC and MTSU studying to be a medical transcriptionist. She worked as a medical transcriptionist at the former Maury County Hospital for ten years, and then worked for a national medical transcription association, as a supervisor of over 200 transcriptionists across the United States.
Martha became blind later in life, and loved her recordings for the blind. She enjoyed listening to from five to seven books weekly. Her favorite movie was The Bishop’s Wife. Once she was asked what her “dream day” would be. Her answer was, “Walking on the silver sands of Panama City Beach, during an early fall morning.” Mack, recalls that they did that many times during their life together.
Martha is survived by her loving husband: Joe Mack “Buddy” Shaw; daughter: Monica (Darrell) Graham; grandchildren: Jason (Danielle Haygood) Brooks, Amber Brooks, Heather (Michael) Link, Kelsey Shaw, and Carson Shaw; great grandchildren: Braxton, Sawyer, Aspen, Ramona, Hazel, and Mack; and sister: Sherry Etheridge; daughter in law: Marie Shaw. She is preceded in death by her children: Michelle Shaw and Jon Mark Shaw; and brothers: Tom Etheridge and George Etheridge.
The family will celebrate Martha’s life at a later date.
