Becky Shaw Memorial Ski Day will take place March 10.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

BETHEL – March 10 of last year was an overwhelmingly sad day for Lennie Shaw and his adopted twin children, Jon and Jeni.

The children’s mother, Becky – Shaw’s wife of 28 years – was killed on that day when a logging truck toppled onto her car on a snowbank while she was trying to avoid the crash on Route 26 in Paris.

Becky Shaw’s tragic death spawned an outpouring of community support that welled into creation of the Rebecca J. Shaw Memorial Para Optometric Education Fund.

The fund, which was established by the Maine Optometric Association, of which optometrist Dr. Lennie Shaw is a member, provides financial support for people pursuing education in the field of optometry. Currently, there is more than $10,000 in the fund, Lennie Shaw said.

Another event that is being held on the anniversary of Shaw’s wife’s death, is the first Becky Shaw Memorial Ski Day on Wednesday, March 10, at Mt. Abram Family Ski Resort in Locke Mills.

Becky Shaw grew up skiing at Mt. Abram, and her husband and children are ski and snowboard instructors there.

Proceeds from Mt. Abram lift tickets, which on March 10 are being sold for the discounted price of $30, are to go into the optometric education fund.

Lennie Shaw also said that lift operators and attendants had volunteered their time for the day in memory of his wife.

Additionally, a drawing is to be held for a quilt measuring 75 by 95 inches that was made by Becky’s daughter Jeni Shaw, her mother Virginia Keniston, and sisters Martha Bangs and Rachel McKnight, friends and the Cross Country Quilters Group of Bethel.

Lennie Shaw said that more than $500 had been raised by advance raffle ticket sales for the quilt as of Monday night.

“We’re trying not to make it a memorial, but rather, it’s just a unique ski day in a community where people are mutually respectful and supportive of one another,” he added.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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