Childhood

Born in San Francisco, California, Beryl Shaw grew up in beautiful Napa Valley – nestled in the wine country – sixty miles north of the city. When asked what determined the development of her life's work, her answer is: "I was born to an extraordinary father."

His name was Dale Emerson Barber, M.D., a blood relative to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As a surgeon, he was noted for his accomplishments in the second edition of "Who's Important in Medicine", published by the Institute For Research In Biography, Inc. in New York. His successful removal of a one-hundred and sixty pound tumor was the first operation of its kind. He studied at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of California, San Francisco. His love of medicine came from his heart, as he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to work with surgeons in Nairobi, Africa, at the Kenyatta National Hospital. People with aliments of every kind entered the doors of that hospital, where he donated his time and surgical skills to cure them.

While most children spent their weekends playing baseball with their fathers in their back yards, Beryl recounts spending hers at the morgue or doing rounds at the hospital. "My father wanted his children to have higher knowledge of the human anatomy, so he took me to observe various procedures. Although autopsies were very interesting, the first one was quite shocking. I looked down at a female corpse, a patient I had visited the week before while doing rounds with him." To this day, Beryl can still conger up a surgical skin-graft, the removal of a fish hook from a man's throat, the amputation of a third finger, all procedures she would never have witnessed if not born to this particular surgeon.

Her father was also a state judge for The Miss America Pageant for a decade. She smiles, recalling all the various pageants she went to as a child. "I have pictures of my father that are reminders of my history. There's a beautiful black and white photograph of him, seated next to Burt Parks, at The Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. When I speak about my father and the judges with whom he acquainted himself, I speak of times way in the past and of people who are legends of long ago, such as Steve Allen, Dick Clark, and several Miss Americas who still appear on television today."

When asked if she grew up in Napa Valley or in San Francisco, she answers, "Both. Our family life was divided. My father took us to San Francisco to dine at fine restaurants and to attend plays or musicals at the Opera House. But what I loved most were the shopping sprees. We always stayed at the St. Francis Hotel, a San Francisco landmark in Union Square. I would come home to Napa with heaps of designer outfits to wear to elementary school. Can you imagine?"

"Then there was the Napa country life on our one-hundred-acre ranch. My father was an equestrian at heart. He bred, rode, and showed quarter horses as a hobby, which brought about his membership with an elite group of men, known as The Sonoma County Trail Blazers. Their biggest event was an annual two-week horseback ride that took them into wilderness regions. To show his appreciation for his cowboy friends, he held a special banquet on the top floor of the highest building in San Francisco: the financial district's Bank of America with a cityscape view of the downtown area. I'll never forget that night. It offered me an opportunity to wear my first ball gown at age twelve, while feasting on a ten-course meal at the longest banquet table I had ever seen."

Teen years

One Trail Blazer owned land in Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea. He and his wife graciously offered to take Beryl, at age fourteen, to live with them in French Polynesia. While there, she learned the authentic versions of Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Samoan dancing, along with learning to speak French language. After she returned to the States, she joined a professional Polynesian dance group, known as The La Hui Nani Dancers – a group that performed throughout the Northern California Bay Area.

When asked about boyfriends during her teen years, she smiles. "Oh, yes, there were plenty of boys. I remember flying in private planes for boyfriend vacations that were chaperoned by their parents. Ricky Nelson was one boyfriend, even though he was much older than me. My first-grade crush became a reality only for a while. I was far too young for anything serious."

Then followed education: Stanford University, The University of the Pacific, and Brooks Institute of Fine Art – education from which she earned two Bachelor's degrees. Finally, Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles accepted her for the Master's Program in Fine Art.

Her twenties

In her twenties, Beryl became a published model and represented several clothing lines, inspired by the clothing salon, Mirage. She walked the ramp for weekly fashion shows and claims it was the most fun she'd ever had, while earning a paycheck. She modeled for an eight-page spread in a national magazine, a four-page spread in a rocker magazine, and for various other assignments. Commercials were in her repertoire - Kaiser Permanente being an unusual one that did not involve fashion.

In her late twenties, she applied art to fashion, when she became the front-window display artist for the Joseph Magnin Union Square store in San Francisco. "For me, fashion became an expression that incorporated the design of backdrops, along with mannequin merchandise choices. One Christmas, I made life-size clown sculptures that wore white jumpsuits the color of snow. Some clowns sat on the floor next to the mannequins, while others stood back-to-back with them. My display design won the holiday competition that year for Union Square street windows. A picture of this window can be seen under the tab, Studio, Stage Days, on my website."

Beryl changed careers when she moved from San Francisco to Marin County, a posh community just outside San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. She became the in-house graphic artist for Dominican College, an institute administered by nuns. "I was intrigued with a sisterhood that governed a private, co-educational college. I expected the nuns to be very much alike, but they were not. Each nun had a distinct personality and I grew to love them all."

At this time, fate brought into her life the man she would soon marry. A Zen priest, his name was William Grace Shaw. Recalling back, she states, "Zen Buddhism is a fascinating practice that keeps one mindful of whatever it is one does. If it's washing the dinner dishes or pruning plants, then that is your meditation at that instant. We were married in the San Francisco Zen Center, where we took our vows in bare feet, knelt down in front of an alter and a Tanto priest. The wedding ceremony and groom were most unorthodox, and I will cherish forever my memories of both."

Five years later, her marital bond ended when William fell ill to a rare disease and died. "I held his funeral at the Zen compound at Green Gulch Farm, located not far from the city on the way to Stinson Beach. The day before the funeral, I remember holding the big mallet to beat an enormous brass gong on a mountain crest that overlooked acres and acres of farm vegetation. The resonating, triple-bell rhythm announced to Green Gulch residents that a high member of the community had died."

Although William led a Spartan lifestyle, he was born to an affluent family. As Beryl was raised by an extraordinary man, so was William Grace Shaw. His stepfather, who adopted him at age five, was Curtiss E. Frank – a man who was the Vice President of Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation, President of Dunn and Bradstreet, Mayor of Yonkers, New York, and an associate on a task force for the President of the United States.

Her thirties

Beryl's second marriage was to a scientist, the man to whom she is married today. When she met this man, she was occupied with her figurative oil paintings that she toured throughout ten states in America, including an art show juried by Janet Fish in New York. During this period, she won many awards and became a published artist several times over.

Present time

Along with classical modeling, Beryl Shaw writes fiction. She admits that although she thought oil painting was the hardest skill she had ever learned, she was wrong. "Fiction writing is harder. It's easy to write junk. But if it's quality writing you're after, you have to work very, very hard."