Former Harvard police officer, lifelong resident
JB Shaw. (Courtesy photo)
Joseph Bradbury Shaw, 72, a lifelong resident of Harvard, died Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston after a brief illness. He was born in Ayer Sept. 13, 1935 to Herbert W. Shaw Sr. and Lois (Hackett) Shaw. He spent his early years on the Shaw farm, attended Harvard schools, and graduated from the Bromfield School in 1953. He served in the U.S. Air Force in Germany and France. In January of 1955 he married Patricia S. Flanders, and together they raised three children.
In the 1970s, JB was a Harvard police officer and a charter member of the Harvard Ambulance Squad. He enjoyed ballroom dancing as well as square dancing. For the past 30 years he collected and restored old farm tractors and engines, which he exhibited throughout New England at antique engine shows.
JB was well known throughout Harvard and surrounding towns for the work that he performed on many homes and grounds with his business, J.B. Shaw Excavating Co.
JB is survived by his wife, Patricia; his daughter, Kathleen Shaw of Auburn, Maine; his son Tony Shaw and his wife Lisa of Harvard; and his daughter Laurel and her husband Steven Russo of Westmoreland, N.H. He also leaves five grandchildren, Mark, Walter, and Karen Shaw, and Steven and Michael Russo; two brothers, Herbert Shaw Jr. of Fitchburg and Raymond Shaw of Florida; three sisters, Bonnie Williams of Greenville, N.H., Lois Shaw of Boxborough, and Kim Lerned of Lunenburg.
Visiting hours will be held Friday, Feb. 29, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Badger Funeral Home, 347 King St. in Littleton. The funeral will be from the Badger Funeral Home Saturday, March 1, at 9 a.m., with a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Theresa’s Church, Still River Road in Harvard at 10 a.m. Burial will be at Bellevue Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations in memory of JB be sent to the Harvard Ambulance Squad, 40 Ayer Road, Harvard.
