Not that anyone who knows who Clarence was.. it all goes back to 2015 when I read a random poem from an old book of Arizona poetry by Sharlot Hall…

His Place- Who Was Clarence H. Shaw?

it described  a desert grave of one Clarence M Shaw who apparently loved, explored, lived, and died in the desert. The location is in the middle of what is now metropolitan Phoenix.

Classic Arizona Poetry

I got curious and tried to find all I could online (not too much) but did locate a photo of the grave and possible references to Shaw’s work as a photographer.

The blog post is mostly my own fascination with exploring obscure things, people.

He must be obscure since Google searches on Clarence  H Shaw end up on my blog post.

Just today, the day before my OER22 presentation I got an out of the blue email from someone who lives in the area. She and her grounds have seen a large rock sitting askew with an inscription “Clarence H Shaw 1878-1902 “ looked it up online and found my post. She shared a photo (I had never gone looking for it, beyond online).

Inscription reading “Charles H Shaw 1878-1902” found.shared by hiker north of Piestewa Peak

I can’t say for sure if it’s an actual headstone but it’s one of those tiny connections enabled by a public sharing.

Download "Just in Time for #OER22 – Clarence M Shaw’s Rock Found?"

Shared by: Alan Levine

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