Eugene Rex Shaw

A memorial gathering for Gene Shaw, age 75, of Milaca, will be held Friday, April 28, 2017 from 3:30 - 5:30 PM at Peterson-Johnson Funeral Home in Milaca with a time of sharing and telling the story of Gene's life at 5:30 PM.  Gene passed away Friday, April 21, 2017 at Milaca Elim Home.  Gene was born September 27, 1941 to Rex and Sydney Shaw in Chico, California. At the age of 10, upon his mother's death from polio, he went to live with his father in Sebastopol, CA. He graduated from the Sebastopol high school and then enlisted in the Navy. After basic training he was sent to Hawaii where he completed his tour of duty. After his Navy years, he became a licensed pilot and flew for Air West doing cargo runs. He then decided to work on a degree in civil engineering, graduating from Chico State. After graduation, he was hired by the city of Medford, Oregon. At the age of 32, he decided to join the Peace Corps and was sent to Liberia, West Africa. After completing his Peace Corps obligation, he was employed by the United Nations in Liberia to work on a mineral exploration project. In 1981, on a trip back to the U.S., he met his future wife, Barbara. He returned to Liberia for six months to complete his UN contract and then returned to Oregon. Gene and Barbara were married in Ashland, Oregon, on August 14, 1982. In October, the UN offered him a contract in Guyana, South America. After a year in Georgetown, Guyana, Gene and Barbara continued living abroad. Their next posts were Freetown, Sierra Leone; Maseru, Lesotho; Mogadishu, Somalia; Salamanca, Spain, and Cairo, Egypt. Gene also worked in the Ivory Coast, Bangladesh, and American Samoa. When Barbara and Gene returned to the US, they settled in Washington, DC. Gene returned to school to earn a degree in computer networking and was then hired by DynCorp to work on networks in the Pentagon. DynCorp then transferred him to El Paso, to head up the effort to install computer networks in all Mexico border US Consulates from Tijuana to Matamoros. Gene retired from DynCorp in 2004. In 2011, Gene and Barbara moved to Milaca, MN. Gene was a gun safety instructor in the Milaca School District. Gene loved the outdoors and camping. Guns were his passion. He was an avid reader, archer, gardener, and a superb cook. Gene was preceded in death by both parents and step-daughter, Randene Wood. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; stepson Rik Sauer; son-in-law, Steve Wood; granddaughter, Stefani Wood Byerl; great-granddaughter, Sofia Byerl; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Debra and Martin Gilchrist; mother-in-law, Margaret Austin.