Shaw was born on July 25, 1897, in
Birmingham, Michigan, the daughter of Bertha Maud (née Crafts; 1873-1964) and Dr. Nenian Thomas Shaw (1867-1952), a Canadian-born
physician. Shaw studied medicine at one time and on February 17, 1923, was present in
Egypt when
Howard Carter unsealed the tomb of the Pharaoh
Tutankhamun. She married Loren George Stauch (1892-1957) on April 22, 1918, in Birmingham and they had one daughter, Patricia Alliene Stauch (1924-2018), before divorcing in August 1935, with extreme cruelty being cited as Shaw's reason for seeking the divorce. In her 1989 appearance on
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson she mentioned the marriage as being brief and commented on how couples need to be well paired for one to work. ==Career==