Beth (Stringer) Shields

Shields, Beth, Danville, Indiana, age 85, died March 24, 2023. She was born Mary Elizabeth Stringer in Indianapolis, IN, and raised in Danville, IN. Her father, Julius Lester Stringer, mother, Edythe Elizabeth Cox Stringer Bayliss, and her stepfather, Leon Bayliss, are all deceased.  

She lived the first half of her life in Danville (40 years) before moving to FL in 1977 for the other half (45 years). She thought wrongly and moved back to Danville, IN, in 2022. Beth worked in banking, retail, printing, as a cruise-only travel agent and travel writer. 

She loved traveling for more than 34 years with 2nd husband, Walter Shields (Dec.2018), to 97 countries, on 70 cruises, and spending 531 nights at sea. This travel included many land trips to most of the U.S. states.

Beth also loved genealogy and connected a direct family line to George Washington’s great-aunt, Anne Washington Wright, and John and Pricilla Alden. She wrote and sold a 2-volume book on the Gosney family history. She compiled a short history of the Morphew and Stringer families. Beth is an Honorary Kentucky Colonel and Lifetime member of Pendleton and Campbell Counties genealogy societies in KY. She was a member and officer of Pinellas Co. Genealogy Society of Largo, FL., for many years.

Her greatest achievement and enjoyment was her son, Kirk L Morphew (wife Val), and his two sons, Zachary Allen and Joseph Burke Morphew of Fairmont, WV. Other survivors were four stepchildren – Bonnie Fleck and Heather Nagy (her family) of Citrus County, FL., Patrick Shields (his family), and Danny Shields (his family) of Hillsborough Co., FL.

A private graveside service and burial will be held at South Cemetery in Danville, IN.  Baker Funeral Home, Danville, is handling the arrangements. 

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