Rev. Ian Shaw, who has been the minister of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Simcoe, for the past 7 years, has retired. He will be missed greatly by St. Paul’s as well as a number of local organizations in which he was active. They include Messy Church, Friendship in Faith etc. Fortunately, he has no immediate plans to leave Simcoe. Ian grew up in MacTier, Ontario and was an active member of the youth group at St. Andrew`s in Parry Sound. He and his wife, Linda Shaw, were leaders at Camp Iona during the 1970s.
Ian began his career as a teacher of mathematics at O`Neill Collegiate in Oshawa, Ontario in 1971. In 1979 he decided to leave teaching and attended Knox Presbyterian College, University of Toronto. Ian was ordained at St. Luke`s Presbyterian Church, Oshawa, Ontario, on September 12th, 1982. He was first posted to St. Andrew`s Presbyterian Church in Biggar, Saskatchewan.
Linda went to Lesotho, a country in Africa and then worked for The Presbyterian Church in Canada for another year speaking across the country. One of the first places they sent her was Biggar, Saskatchewan and the rest is history. They were married in November 1983 and were blessed with triplets, Kendra, Michael and Kris in September 1985.
After six years as a Minister in Saskatchewan, Ian was called to Westwood Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg where he served for 17 years. In 2005, he traded his parka for a T-shirt and he and Linda served in Guyana until 2008. The Lord then called him to St. Paul`s Presbyterian Church in Simcoe.
St. Paul’s held a retirement party for him on September 27th where he was toasted and roasted by friends and family, some of whom came from all over North America.
