Barbara Joy Shields
Barbara Joy Shields passed away peacefully, at age 90, on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at her home in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Born May 24, 1934, in Elizabeth, N.J., to Josephine and Richard Kaul, Barb was a proud Jersey girl all her life. She grew up in Cranford, New Jersey, and graduated from Cranford High School before completing her degree at Manhattanville College in White Plains, New York, in 1956.
After an exciting early career at the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency in New York City she met her neighbor, Thomas Shields, in the apartment elevator and soon after the two began their 35-year marriage at St. Michael Church in Cranford on June 4, 1960. They settled in nearby Westfield, where she loved raising her five children, calling it “the most important and fulfilling job I’ve ever had.” She participated fully in the civic and social life of that wonderful community. Active in PTA and CCD at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, she was also a member of the Echo Lake Country Club and founding member of the Colonial Westfield Bridge and Tennis Club.
When the kids finished college, she went back to work as a realtor and travel consultant for more than a decade before moving to Charlotte in 2002 following the death of her beloved husband, Tom. It was then that Barb’s passion for adventure took flight, and she spent the next 20 years having a ball, visiting virtually every corner of the planet. Whenever she wasn’t traveling she was busy spending time with her many grandchildren, leaving them well-mentored and chock full of family lore and midcentury advertising jingles.
Barbara is survived by her younger brothers, Robert Kaul of San Diego and Charles Kaul of Forked River, New Jersey. She is preceded in death by her older sister, Joan Kaul of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and her older brother, Richard Kaul, who died during the year of her birth, inspiring her mother to give her the middle name Joy. She leaves behind her five married children, Thomas (Maris) Shields of Bend, Oregon, Richard (Debra) Shields of Manasquan, New Jersey, Matthew (Kelley) Shields of Chicago, Illinois, Steve (Deanna) Shields of Ladera Ranch, California, and Joy (Greg) Dolan of Simi Valley, California. Barb is also survived by her eight fabulous grandchildren, Tommy and Margaret Shields of San Francisco, Darrah Shields of Jackson, Wyoming, Reilly Shields of New York City, Carly Shields of Chicago, Grace Dolan of Simi Valley, and the twins Emery and Regan Shields of Ladera Ranch.
Barbara felt truly blessed and grateful for this beautiful life, full of family, enduring friendships, and love. All are invited to a memorial mass for Barbara Joy on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at 2 p.m., at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte. Interment at the family plot in Fairview Cemetery and a celebration of her life in Westfield will happen at a to-be-decided future time. In lieu of flowers, donations to Smile Train are encouraged.
Online condolences may be shared atwww.McEwenPinevilleChapel.com.
September 26, 2024
