Floree Simpkins Shaw

By Patrick Kavanagh
History of Women in Forest Lawn Lawn Cemetery

Section CC, Single Grave 5323
Date of Death: 2/2/1987

Mrs. Shaw was the wife of the founder of Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church. She was a prominent figure in the National Baptist Organizations. She was the president of the Baptist Ministers Wives and Widows of New York State for 40 years; she held various local and national positions with the Baptist Church.

In 1975 she attended the 13th annual Baptist World Alliance; active member of the Southern Leadership Christian Association and the Buffalo Civil Rights League. Mrs. Shaw cared for the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he became ill during a National Baptist Convention.

Mrs. Shaw received many awards of recognition from local governments; first woman designated to give the invocation before a meeting of the Common Council. In May, 1965, the Council honored her with a resolution proclaiming "Mrs. H. B. Shaw Day" in the City.

She received the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority's "Martin Luther King, Jr. Religious Day Award" in 1984; in 1992 honored by the Baptist Ministers Conference of Buffalo and Vicinity.


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