Dave and Dolores Shaw Share

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David Shaw and his late wife, Dolores, have been long-lived ​‘doers’ in the Mar­i­on com­mu­ni­ty, hav­ing devot­ed decades vol­un­teer­ing for Meals on Wheels, clean­ing up areas with­in the city togeth­er, and help­ing main­tain their church grounds.

Dave Shaw, orig­i­nal­ly from Mis­souri, moved to Michi­gan where he met his wife Dolores. They moved to Mar­i­on for Dave to pur­sue a job through Gen­er­al Motors in 1965. Dolores then worked many years for Mar­i­on Com­mu­ni­ty Schools serv­ing food in the cafe­te­ria. After both retired from careers, they became reg­u­lar volunteers.

Daugh­ter, Cindy Cun­ning­ham, stat­ed her par­ents would see a need, and ful­fill it. She added that they did not want to do it for any recognition.

Togeth­er, they both drove routes serv­ing meals to area res­i­dents in need through Meals on Wheels. Dave also vol­un­teered at St. Mar­tin Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter, and for Carey Ser­vices before obtain­ing a paid main­te­nance job. Dave and Dolores would go to Mat­ter Park every day and pick up trash. Every Sun­day for years, they vol­un­tar­i­ly cared for the Tri­cia Reitler Memo­r­i­al on the south side, plant­i­ng flow­ers, weed­ing, and water­ing. Addi­tion­al­ly, they would do yard work and help out with main­te­nance of St. Paul Catholic Church.

They were notably fans and sea­son tick­et hold­ers of Mar­i­on High School Boys Bas­ket­ball. Dolores would rou­tine­ly make peanut but­ter cook­ies for the Giants Bas­ket­ball team.

Things took a turn in 2019 when Dolores became ill. In Octo­ber of 2020, she passed away at the age of 86, just one day before her and Dave’s 70^th wed­ding anniversary.

In April of 2021, Dave was hon­ored for 30 years of serv­ing with Meals on Wheels. That day, he was pre­sent­ed with a tro­phy, and a sep­a­rate com­mem­o­ra­tive tro­phy in hon­or of Dolores’ ded­i­cat­ed service.

Today, Dave still vol­un­teers for Meals on Wheels at the age of 89. Cindy’s son, Derek Cun­ning­ham, dri­ves from Koko­mo each week, tak­ing his grand­fa­ther on the route deliv­er­ing meals in order to con­tin­ue the fam­i­ly legacy.