Mart ha S ea y S ha w was born on Ja n uar y 3 , 1948, i n Pi cke ns Coun t y, A labam a. S h e was t h e fift h chi l d of n ine c hil dr e n bo rn to t h e l at e Al e x an d Milli e Mor ga n Seay.

At an ear l y a ge, M arth a ac c e pte d Jes u s C hr i st as her p e r s ona l Lo rd a nd S av i or and was bap tize d at C l u st er Bap tis t C h ur c h i n Ali cev il le, A labam a. Fr o m t h i s po i n t on, s he be gan her life-lo n g d e di c ati on t o serv i ce by si ng i ng i n the choir an d us heri ng at t he c hurch. As an a du l t, she jo i n ed Great er All en Tem p le A .M. E. Churc h . There s he se r v ed on the M oth e rs ' Board, as secr e ta r y o f t he ch u r ch, an d as a trus t ee.

Marth a m at r ic u lated i n t he P i ck e ns County e ducati onal sys te m and r ecei ved her d ipl om a fr o m R .J . K i rs e y High Sc hoo l. She w ou ld go o n to ob t a i n h e r B . S. d e g ree from Miss is s i pp i V all ey S ta t e U ni v er s it y and h e r M . A. from Mis si s si pp i St a te U n ive rs it y in Sta rk ville, M is sis s i ppi. She b eg an h e r te a chi ng car ee r in Ro lling Fork, Mi ss i ss i ppi, w h er e she taught ph y si cal ed uca ti on. S he al so taug ht at Mary H olmes Ju n i or Co ll e ge , wh ere s he met the l ove of her lif e, Dr. B . N. Shaw, wh o m she lat er marri ed. To this un i o n lat er cam e two daught ers, Sum ati a nd Kho l a d a, an d stepchildren, Prab ha ti-Joll y, Satyab r at a, P ran a ti, a nd Mi na t i.

As she se t tle d i nto he r career , sh e a ls o d e velope d her e xp e r tis e as an entrepre ne ur . S he and her hu sba nd m ove d to Jack son, M i s si ss i ppi, wher e they ma de Clint on t h eir p ermane n t ho me. I n one o f her bu sines s v en t u res, M a rth a deve l o pe d a numb er of career w ork s hops and c ond u cte d e d u cati o nal sessi ons al l ov e r Mi ssis s i pp i . H e r other i n t erests i nc luded in ve sti n g i n pro p ert y an d as sisting he r h usban d w i th h is newspaper bu si ne s s. As s he hone d her p r o f e s s ional sk ill s, she f o c u s ed on t ea chi n g i n t he H ind s Coun t y a nd J a cks on s choo l systems and l eft a n i mpre s s i ve legacy of ove r 3 0 years i n a n i llus t r i ous car ee r tha t im pac te d hund re ds o f s tu de n t s.

T he p hrase "all work an d no p l ay" d id not des c rib e o ur Ma rth a Shaw . Sh e was an ou tgoi n g , f r ie n d ly per so n.  She had a b ig h ea rt and h el p e d so m any along the way . She suppor t ed fam il y mem bers when th e y were i n c o ll ege, g ave to t he ne e dy, e n c ouraged h er s t ud ents a nd thos e wh o m s he met even in casual co n versa ti o n s.

On e of t h e stro n g e s t e leme nts i n h er char act er was her lov e f or her fa m ily. S he e n j o y ed i n te rac ting wit h her grandchild r e n, wh e ther w ork i n g i n t he g ar d en w it h them, w a tching t h em p l ay sports, or p la y i ng with them at famil y pa rti es . The g randchil dr en f on d ly ca l led h er "Aa i " . In t u r n, Marth a l o v i n gl y cal led them her "h eartbea ts".

As a re fl e cti on of her adventu r o u s s p iri t, Martha l oved t ra v e lli ng t o p l aces li ke Jamai ca, Mex i c o, Hawa i i, an d the C a ym an Islands. But her other j oy w as atte n d ing family re un io ns . Wh et h e r th e y were i n Ne w O rle an s o r Alice v ill e, sh e loved to plan for family a nd f r ie nd s t o c o me t o g e t her and ha ve a g ood t ime.

Mart ha wa s predeceased by her husba nd D r. B . N . S haw ; one b rothe r, Ja me s M o rgan; si s ters: Elo i se M cSha ne, Mary S eay, Eula Jeffe r i es, E mma D a niel s, and S add i e Seay. S he is s urv ived by her ch ildren Su ma ti (Br i an ) Tho m as-Co r in n e & Z oe , Kho lada (Deon te) Q u ick-Kade nce ; her ste p -c h ildren Prab ha ti-Joll y (Krus hn a) S ah u, Satyabrata ( R ajas h re e) S ha w , Prana ti (Jo h n) Johnso n, M in at i ( R a n dal l) Wils on; her si b li n gs Jimmie ( R egi na) Mor ga n, D or o thy ( Dav id) H o ll o w e l l, Sh ir ley McC ra ry, C lau d e tt e (R o n) Dyson Brook s , L i n da ( L a wr ence ) Bivi ns and a h ost o f grandchildre n, n ie ces , nep he w s , a nd c ou si n s f rom t h e Mor gan, Seay, and S h aw famili es.