Carolyn Shaw McMillan

Carolyn was born in 1929 in Macon Georgia to Ralph Benjamin Shaw and Emma Talley Shaw. Carolyn was a wife, a mother, an artist, a poet, a pre-school teacher, a preservationist, a cat lover, and an avid conservationist. Carolyn spent most of her childhood and attended local schools in Macon before moving to Decatur, Georgia in her senior year of high school. Carolyn graduated in psychology from the University of Georgia in 1951 where she was a member of the Phi Mu sorority and where she met her future husband Charles Huie McMillan, Jr. After college she studied art at the High Museum in Atlanta and taught preschool in Atlanta, Georgia. Carolyn taught school, continued to paint and study with Bill Hendrix for over 30 years. She was active in various civic and historical societies at the local and state level in Georgia during the years she was raising four children in Glynn County. In mid-life she reassumed her passion for art where she experimented with new art forms (like sand casting and traditional forms of drawing) and began to write poetry. Her poetry has been published in various St. Simons Island compendia. During her years on St. Simons Island, Carolyn was an active member of Christ Church, Federica, the Cherokee Garden Club and the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames in America, the Little Cumberland Association, and the Live Poets Society of Christ Church. She was passionate about historic preservation and played a key role in the renovation of Hanover Park in Brunswick as well as other historic properties in Georgia and the early coastal land conservation efforts. She was equally passionate about environmental protection in Glynn County where she was commonly referred to as the “turtle lady” on talk radio. In January 2013, Carolyn moved to Oak Hammock—a retirement community associated with the University of Florida. There she was quickly integrated into Oak Hammock’s art community where she taught a class in “conte crayon” and presented a one woman art show in February 2014. She was also an active participant in the Oak Hammock classes on opera and international issues as well the outings group and poetry society. She is pre-deceased by her husband of 55 years, Charles Huie McMillan Jr., her son James Shaw McMillan and brother Ralph Shaw. Her survivors include her daughter Della McMillan Wilson (Dave) of Gainesville, Florida, sons Charles Huie McMillan III (Cindy) of Savannah and St. Simons Island, Georgia and Joseph LeConte McMillan (Pam) of Jacksonville, Florida, as well as nine grand-children, two step-grand-children, and two great-grand- children.

The funeral is scheduled for two o’clock on Saturday, September 30, 2017 at Christ Church Frederica.

In lieu of flowers, donations in honor of Carolyn to Christ Church Frederica, 6329 Frederica Road, St. Simons Island, Georgia 31522 or Faithworks, P.O. Box 2902, Brunswick, GA 31521 (http://www.faithworksministry.org) would be gratefully appreciated.