FRONT ROYAL, Sept. 13 – Ruth Lucille Thomson Shaw Blackman, 88, of Front Royal, died on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at Winchester Medical Center.

Mrs. Blackman was born April 3, 1924 in Farmville, a daughter of the late George Forrest Thomson and Katherine Sullivan Thomson. She was a graduate of Washington and Lee High School in Arlington. She resided in Northern Virginia for most of her life and in 1961 she moved to the West Coast. She returned to Rice and recently moved to Front Royal. She was a member of the St. James Catholic Church and sang in the church choir. Mrs. Blackman was a member of UDC Warren Rifles Chapter and UDC Farmville Chapter 45, DAR Farmville-Longwood Chapter and DAR Winchester- Fort Loudoun Chapter, and was also a member Stuart-Mosby Historical Society. She had a great interest in genealogy and the Civil War. Mrs. Blackman truly loved music and was a generous woman.

Surviving are her children, Katherine (Shaw) Swanson of Front Royal, Patrick S. Shaw and wife, Barbara of Villa Rica, GA, Timothy J. Shaw Sr. and wife, Kathryn of Rice, and Maureen E. Smith of Rice; grandchildren, Laura Davis, Thomas Shaw Jr., Amy Gantt, Christopher Swanson, Timothy Shaw Jr., Amanda Lou Shaw, Brandy Wood, Kristy Langston, Megan Langston, Michael Langston, and Shawn Langston; and many great-grandchildren. Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her first husband, James A. Shaw Jr. and her second husband, Lee George Blackman, two sons, James A. Shaw, III and Thomas M. Shaw.

She was loved by all who knew her and will be greatly missed.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held Tuesday, September 11, at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Front Royal; conducted by the Rev. Jerome Fasano. Burial was held at Columbia Memorial Gardens in Arlington.

Arrangements were by Maddox Funeral Home, Inc. in Front Royal.