Celiann "Mary" Johnson Shaw passed away peacefully in the early hours of December 9, 2022. She was a beloved mother, wife, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. Nicknamed "Benzino" by her sister-in-law, Mary had a passion for life to admire. She was born April 22, 1924 in Lake Preston, South Dakota and later moved to Huron, South Dakota where she graduated from Huron High. There, Bob Shaw, the man who would become the love of her life, saw her picture in a photographer's window and they soon after entered into a marriage that would last 73 years. They moved to Sioux Falls shortly after the war.

There simply has never been a more capable, practical, or conscientious homemaker. Her beloved daughters, Judy and Suzi, who survive and grieve for her today, wore beautiful hand-sewn children's clothes and lived in a home so clean you could quite literally eat off the floor. She loved the color pink, traveling, art, gardening and flowers, clowns, cards and dancing and hated brown towels and losing at cards.

Mary had a love of learning that endured her whole life. Whenever she encountered anything unfamiliar, she would research it tirelessly, take notes, and study it until she understood. She loved documentaries and biographies and was an intuitive mechanic.

Bob and Mary lived in Washington DC in the fifties and moved to Hawaii the year Hawaii got statehood where they resided for thirty years. While in Hawaii, Mary designed, commissioned, produced, and marketed a line of playing cards featuring Hawaiian royalty in beautiful detail. She found a printer in Austria to print them to her standards and her travel there with Bob was one of the highlights of her life. She then worked tirelessly to get them carried in virtually every store in Honolulu.  Her designs are featured in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu today.  They returned to South Dakota to the Black Hills in 1984 where she became such a successful blackjack and poker player that she had to declare the income on her taxes!

She was an outstanding artist and her beautiful paintings of Hawaii, seascapes, clowns, and cityscapes adorn the walls of her children's and grandchildren's' homes. She was a perfectionist who would scrap an entire scene and start over if it wasn't right. She painted canvases and figurines that we all treasure today.

Mary was raised Roman Catholic, but most recently attended Big Bend Presbyterian Church where she found her loving church family and community.

We miss you, Grandma Mary, but we're all so happy to know that you're finally back by your love's side with your dog in your lap and able to look down on us all from above.  Don't let any of us slip up.  We love you.

At Mary's request there will be no services at this time.

Arrangements with Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home.