Lucy Shawgo

December 08, 2009

East Moline, Illinois

Lucy Shawgo, of East Moline, Illinois, a retired Moline High School teacher, a former journalist, and a widely published poet, died Tuesday, December 8, 2009, in Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus, Silvis, Illinois.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline. Memorials may be made to the Rock Island County Humane Society or the Arthritis Foundation.

An English teacher for thirty years at Moline High School, Ms. Shawgo also coached debate there, initiated the school’s creative writing program, and for eighteen years served as advisor for its creative writing magazine Kaleidoscript. She also taught evening classes in English and sociology at Black Hawk College.

Ms. Shawgo’s poetry has appeared in many United States and Canadian literary journals, including such prestigious ones a Phi Beta Kappa’s The American Scholar, Phi Kappa Phi’s National Forum, The Kenyon Review, The Hollins Critic, Queen’s Quarterly, and The University of Windsor Review. Her work was also published in the 1985 and 1986 editions of Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry.

Before her teaching and literary careers, Ms. Shawgo was a newspaper reporter and editor. She was on the editorial staffs of The Daily Dispatch, The Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, and The Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Idaho. She was also a reporter for and later women’s editor of the former Morning Democrat. in Davenport, Iowa. Ms. Shawgo served, as well, as director of public relations for the former St. Katharine’s School, Davenport.

Born in Springfield, Illinois, Ms. Shawgo spent most of her life in the Quad Cities and since 1966 had made her home in East Moline. She was graduated from Moline High School, attended Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Marycrest College, and a Master of Arts Degree in English from the University of Illinois. She was engaged to be married to Reid Cameron, who was killed in the navy during WW II.

Her major interests, in addition to writing, were reading and caring for her wire-haired terriers. She had owned wirehairs since 1959. A lifetime member of the National Education Association, Ms. Shawgo was also a member of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association and of Delta Gamma, national social sorority.

Friends are invited to share a story about Lucy or light a candle in her memory at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com