Ron and Dorothy Shaw of Fremont, NE were married in 1962 and moved to their first and only home in October of that year.  They both loved gardening and slowly but surely established flower plantings around the yard.  A few roses were scattered among the other flowers.  In the mid to late 70's they decided to take a couple of roses to a rose show in Blair, NE. They were quite surprised to learn that two or three roses fell somewhat short of the average participant's entries.  To their surprise they won a blue ribbon with Yankee Doodle.  Needless to say, Ron was hooked.  Slowly but surely they started adding more roses to their garden and building separate gardens for the roses.

In the spring of 1986, they won their first queen with  Touch of Class and also had king with Pascali at the Blair show.  They had met some friendly and dediated rosarians: Ron Morlock, Bob Kopecky, Walter and Ann Huber, Bill and Edie Parmenter, to name a few.  Since then they have won nineteen queens at shows in Lincoln, Omaha, Blair, and Spencer, IA.  The queens have been four TOCs, three Pristines, two Dublins, two Elizabeth Taylors, and one each of Summer Dream, Eterna, Century Two,  Elina, Classic Beauty, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Suffolk, and Bride's Dream.

As some of you know, Ron is a physically challenged rosarian.  About ten years ago, he decided to expand his rose hobby into photography.  Capturing the beauty of the rose with a camera in his own back yard was the beginning of a wonderful new experience. After a few years of trial and error, Ron decided to enter the ARS slide contest.  The first few years were quite disappointing but eventually he won sixth place in the rose spray class and since then has won queen one year (Olympiad) and first places with Sheer Elegance and Sally Holmes.  After having some success with his rose photography, Ron decided a good way to share his love of roses would be to create rose note cards featuring 4"x6" photos of his slides.  This has grown to the point that they are giving about 40 to 50 sets of cards away each year.  The note cards are not for sale.  Recently Ed and Dee Pagliai recommended that Meredith Publishing contact Ron as a source for photos for their new edition of Ortho's All About Roses.  They will be using six of Ron's photos and the book should be on the market soon. 

Consulting Rosarian Ron retired from his accounting practice (shaw, Hull and Navarrette CPAs P.C.) in 1992 at the age of 58.  The adjustment was easy for  Ron but a challenge for Dorothy, but they both managed to give a little and are now enjoying retirement greatly.  Ron acquired a Kawasaki 4 wheeler in 1993 and it has been a great help in caring for their roses.  He is completely independent in the Garden but must have help in getting the roses to shows and entering them.  Dorothy is indispensable at shows although she is not interested in this aspect of his hobby.

Their daughter Gina is a 1989 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Georgetown University and is currently employed as a senior writer at the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, DC. On her holiday visit this year she installed a computer system for  Ron and he is now visiting all the various websites associated wtih his hobby.  Webiste www.millsmix.com under "newsletter" has an article about John Slusher and Ron on the internet.

--From the Central District Dispatch, newsletter of the Central District of the American Rose Society, March-April 1999