Louis Cabe Shearer, Jr., 1906-1991

In 1930, Louis Shearer entered the ministry of our Virginia conference with a distinguished ministerial family background. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Louis Cabe Shearer, Sr., who was a member of our conference from 1895 to the time of his death in 1918.

In 1935, Louis married Miss Elizabeth Campbell Eure who was herself both the granddaughter and the daughter of distinguished Virginia conference ministers: Travis J. Taylor, 49 years a pastor, 1867-1912; and John Walter Eure, a pastor, 1902-1920.

When Travis Taylor came to serve the Appomattox Charge in the 1880s, he found in the James E. Shearer family young Louis Cabe (Sr.), whom he received into church membership and pointed his feet toward Randolph-Macon College and the ministry. Little did he know that the son of this attractive young man would someday marry his own granddaughter and they would together become a part of the ministry of his own calling.

Louis and Elizabeth Shearer, coming out of Court Street Church, Lynchburg, made a magnificent team, serving the Virginia conference with distinction for 42 years, from 1930: Gladys, West Campbell, Appomattox (his family roots), Buena Vista, Orange, Leesburg, Christ in Arlington, Clifton Forge, Bruen Chapel, Chesterbrook, Trinity in Roanoke, and St. James in Arlington with retirement in 1972.

In the early days of our ministry, we knew both of their widowed mothers: Daisy Bell Shearer and Addie Taylor Eure, dedicated preachers' wives and remarkable missionary "spirits" within the Lynchburg District.

We first knew Louis and Elizabeth at the several conference schools held at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, and on the West Campbell Charge where their first baby, Mary Margaret, was born.

Today there are three daughters: Mrs. Margaret Barbour, Orlando, Fla.; Virginia S. Renick, Waltham, Mass.; and Beth Conner Shearer, Chestnut Hill, Mass.; and six grandchildren.

Across the years we admired his work and visited with him at each annual conference. There was always a bright light in his eyes, with his soft-spoken and warm personal greeting. There was always a note of optimism and he was upbeat in his manner of speaking.

Louis was a careful thinker, an educator at heart. He served for many years with our conference Board of Education and he personally led many youth assemblies.

Above all, Louis was a dedicated servant of Christ, whose clean, pure life was lived beyond reproach. He was a man to be trusted, a man to emulate.

Soon after retirement (1972) Louis and Elizabeth went to New England to be near two daughters and to winter in Florida with their other daughter. His last days were at the New England Deaconness Retirement Home, Concord, Mass. He died on Thursday, March 7, 1991, at 85 years of age, with a memorial service in Concord and interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Lynchburg, Saturday, March 16. He is survived by his dear wife, three daughters and six grandchildren.

-John Wynn Myers