2006
M. Aleese Shaw, 94, a homemaker and former accountant, died of respiratory failure Nov. 7 at Virginia Hospital Center in
Arlington County. She was an Arlington resident.
Mrs. Shaw was born in Front Royal, Va., and moved to Georgetown when she was 3. She graduated from Western High School
at 16 and in 1926 received an undergraduate degree in accounting from Benjamin Franklin University (which merged with
George Washington University in 1987). She received a master of commercial science degree from Benjamin Franklin
University in 1933. Her family believes she was the first woman to receive a graduate degree in accounting from the university.
Before her marriage in 1934, she worked as an accountant with Washington Tire and Rubber Co. In 1938, she and her family
moved to Arlington, where she was an active member of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More. She also volunteered for the Red
Cross, Georgetown Hospital, the Cub Scouts and the National Slag Association.
She enjoyed sewing, painting, reading and spending time with her children and grandchildren. She also liked to travel.
Her husband, William Stafford Shaw, died in 1981.
Survivors include four children, Mary Aleese Schreiber of Annapolis, Ann Shaw, a sister of the Congregation of Holy Cross, of
Silver Spring, William J. Shaw of Potomac and James S. Shaw of Springfield; nine grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.