PORTLAND — Elizabeth (Matthews) Shaw, 86, of South Paris, died unexpectedly after a brief illness on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at Maine Medical Center.

She was born June 28, 1924, in Malden, Mass., to John B. and Marion (Smith) Matthews.

She graduated from Malden High School and then attended Tufts University. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1945. During her first year of teaching in South Paris, she met the love of her life, Carl Vernon Shaw. They were married on Aug. 1, 1946, in Norway.

After their fifth child, they settled in South Lyndeboro, N.H. She taught school in Wilton, N.H., for the next 10 years. In 1964, she moved to Amherst, N.H., and taught in the Amherst schools for the next 25 years.

She and her husband retired from teaching in 1986, and moved back to Oxford County, first living on Thompson Lake in Oxford, and then to South Paris. She was an active member, past president and treasurer of the Pine Needle Quilters. She also belonged to the South Paris knitting group, and the Oxford Extension. She also regularly attended the Tuesday afternoon senior group at the Baptist Church on Paris Hill.

Mrs. Shaw was a loving, devoted, and hardworking wife, mother, and grandmother. She was a wonderful teacher not only to her students, but her children as well. She will be dearly missed by her family and the many friends she acquired over the years.

She is survived by her four children, Carl Vernon Shaw Jr. of Milford, N.H., Betsy Prior of Wakefield, N.H., David Shaw of Greenfield, N.H., and Susan Konopka of South Paris; 12 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband, Carl; and her son, Peter.

Online condolences may be shared with her family at www.chandlerfunerals.com.