Garth Elmer Shaw

Garth Elmer Shaw was born in November of 1939. He was the 6th of seven children born to Darrell Elmer Shaw and Lois Shaw-Riggs. Garth had 10 children, 26.5 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren.

Garth passed May 3, 2020, attended by his loving wife of 23 years, Annamae Johnson Shaw, and several of his children and grandchildren – just as he wanted it to be.

Garth was not just an “AVID outdoorsman”, he loved everything God created (except potguts and magpies). Whether it was camping in the mountains, soaking in the natural hot springs with his beloved Anne, hunting, fishing the lakes and streams (that he knew best), or where to find wild asparagus, elderberries or that spring with the crisp, clean cold water to fill the jugs. He had a special relationship with things that grow. He grew a garden to be envied. Tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, carrots, radishes, horseradish, rhubarb, apples and many flowers and bulbs that were second to none. And he could cook. He bottled everything he grew and harvested, including trout. He won many salsa and chili cook-offs. He cherished his family recipes, like spaghetti, shrimp salad, special mac-n-cheese, creamy fudge and his fruitcakes. He was a frugal man and never wasted anything.

Garth was an accomplished mechanic. If it was a machine, it needed to be maintained. If it broke, he knew how to fix it. He took the time to figure out how things worked. He shunned modern technology like cellphones, but he knew how to make a car, truck or lawnmower hum like a sewing machine. He made yard games, bee catchers, wasp catchers, bug repellants and many other hand-made inventions. How about his V-8 “can wrapper?”

Garth was a prankster. If you said something funny, he would twist it right back and make it even more funny. He regularly changed the words of songs to fit the situation – especially if he was teasing someone. That happened a lot, too.

Garth loved many people. He took the time to teach children and grandchildren how to fish. Not just how to fish, how to CATCH fish, how to hold tight but without smashing them. He believed that if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right.

He left this world in much the same manner. He kept his dignity and his sharp wit until the very end. He fought a courageous battle against the formidable odds of Pancreatic Cancer, and the cancer may have won, but it did not break this man. He died a hero in our eyes and we will always have him in our hearts.

We would like to give special thanks to Huntsman Cancer Institute, Intermountain Home Care and Hospice and most especially to Michelle Edvalson and Leslie Burk, who have been there everyday since the beginning.

He will be laid to rest at Larkin Sunset Gardens, Sandy, UT. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Huntsman Cancer Institute in the name of Garth and Annamae Shaw.