Marie Shaw Dee

Marie was born in Fayetteville on February 14, 1929, the eldest child of Dr. J.A. Shaw and his wife, Winship. Growing up surrounded by an extraordinary network of close friends and family, her childhood was filled with horses, beaches, and books that opened her mind to the vastness and variety of the world. She later attended the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, remaining a deeply proud alumna throughout her life.

Driven by her lifelong curiosity, she moved to New York City in 1951 before venturing on to Paris. Upon returning briefly to North Carolina, she shared her love of language as a Latin teacher in Fayetteville and Charlotte. Soon, however, the pull of the city brought her back to New York. There, she built a career editing textbooks and children's stories at McGraw Hill Publishing until 1971.

That same year, she married Bleecker Dee. The couple had originally dated in Paris during the Korean War. A chance encounter at McGraw Hill in 1970 reunited them. Their marriage sparked a very different chapter, with a move to Bombay, India, and the arrival of their daughter, Phoebe, in 1972. The family returned to the United States two years later, living in New Hampshire, Fayetteville, and the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where Bleecker passed away in 1984.

When Phoebe graduated from college in 1994, Marie returned to her roots in Fayetteville. To feed her passion for arts and culture, she purchased an apartment in Washington, D.C., spending many years shuttling between the two cities and enjoying museums, galleries and her season tickets to the Arena Stage. In 2009, she began yet another chapter by moving to Penick Village in Southern Pines, where she lived until her passing. At Penick, she continued to make close friends who will miss her dearly.

Throughout her life, Marie was determined to explore the world. It was hard to find a place she hadn’t visited. She worked on an archaeological dig in Belize, sailed to St. Petersburg, took the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and voyaged on a retired icebreaker to Antarctica. She even barged, crew-less, through the rivers and locks of France. Aside from Paris, the place closest to her heart was Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Marie was a fiercely independent spirit—endlessly curious, always her own human. She read until her very last week.

She will be deeply missed. Marie is survived by her daughter Phoebe Dee (Brent Blunden); her grandson, Bleecker Giles Blunden; Bleecker’s sisters, Hanna and Megan; her brother, Frank Shaw (Rollin); her nieces and nephews, Alexander, Sally, and Gilbert; and a wide circle of extended family and friends who meant the world to her.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 2 pm at MacPherson Presbyterian Church Cemetery.  The family will receive friends following the service at Buena Vista, 5910 Bragg Blvd., Fayetteville, NC.