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, Beryl's 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 in 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 with their dads playing baseball in the back yard, Beryl recounts spending hers with her father at the morgue or doing rounds at the hospital. "My father wanted his children to have higher knowledge of the human anatomy, and he took us to observe various procedures. Although autopsies were very interesting, the first one was quite shocking. I looked down at a female corpse that belonged to one of my father's patients with whom I had visited the week before." 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 have never witnessed, if not born to this surgeon.

Her father had other interests outside his medical practice. He became a state judge for The Miss America Pageant for a decade. Spending her childhood traveling to different pageants, Beryl met celebrity judges her father befriended and later kept in his life. "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 people with whom he acquainted himself, I speak of times way in the past and of people who are legends of long ago: Steve Allen, Dick Clark, and several Miss Americas who appear on television programs today."

When asked if she grew up in Napa or San Francisco, she answers, "Both. Our family life was divided. My father took us to San Francisco to dine at fine restaurants and see plays or musicals at the Opera House. What I loved most were the shopping sprees. We always stayed at the St. Francis Hotel, which is a San Francisco landmark in Union Square. I would come home to Napa with heaps of designer outfits to wear to elementary school." She laughs, admitting that she took it all for granted.

"Then there was the country life," says Beryl, "that took place on our one-hundred-acre ranch. My father was an equestrian, and he bred, rode, and showed quarter horses as a hobby. He joined an elite group of men, known as The Sonoma County Trail Blazers, whose biggest event was an annual two-week horseback ride that took them into wilderness regions. To show his appreciation for his cowboy friends, my father held a special banquet in the highest building in San Francisco: the financial district's Bank of America that scopes the cityscape. I'll never forget that night, as if offered me an opportunity to wear my first ball gown at age twelve. Served a ten-course meal at the longest banquet table possible, it is a memory I will have forever."

"But there are other memories not as pleasant. One night he woke us at midnight and took us to the barn area, where we watched his prize mare birth her first colt, except there were complications. Even with the aid of our veterinarian, the mare died, leaving my father to mourn the death of a champion horse that had won enough blue ribbons to cover three cork boards."

Teen years

One of the members in the Trail Blazers who owned land with his wife in Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea, 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. After she returned to the States – speaking her new French language – she joined a Polynesian dance group called the La Hui Nani Dancers. For her remaining two high-school years, she professionally danced throughout the Bay Area.

When asked about boys, she smiles. "Oh, yes, there were plenty of boys. I remember flying in private planes to go on vacations with them, but their parents always chaperoned the trips, of course. Ricky Nelson was one of them, even though he was a lot older than me. I formed a crush on him in the first grade, and my dream came true in my late teens, but only for a while. I was far too young for anything serious."

Then followed more education: Stanford University, University of the Pacific, and Brooks Institute of Fine Art – education from which Beryl earned two Bachelor's degrees. She was also accepted at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles for the Masters 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 included in her repertoire, Kaiser Permanente being an unusual one that did not involve fashion.

In her late twenties, Beryl became a window display artist for the Union Square Macy's store in San Francisco. "Fashion became an art expression that incorporated the design of backdrops along with window mannequin fashion choices. I remember for one Christmas; I made life-size clown sculptures that wore red and green Christmas outfits and stocking hats. Some clowns sat down next to the frozen models, and others stood back-to-back with them."

When she moved to Marin County, just outside San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, her next career choice was to be the in-house graphic artist for Dominican College, an institute administered by nuns. "I was intrigued with the sisterhood that governed a private, co-educational college. But when it came right down to it, each nun was a friendly, compassionate person with her own personality like you and me."

At this time, Beryl met 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 the groom were most unorthodox, and I will cherish my memories of both forever."

Five years later their 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, 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 him, she toured her figurative oil paintings through ten states in America, including a show juried by Janet Fish in New York. During this period, she won many awards and became a published artist several times over.

Now

Beryl Shaw writes fiction and admits that although she thought oil painting was the hardest skill she 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."