The 2012 Legacy Banquet

Distinguished Educator Award Elizabeth Ellen Ross Shearer ’70 When Libby was a child, she was quickly identified as a “tomboy.” Her parents believed that physical activity was essential to a healthy life, so they facilitated her training in swimming and gymnastics. Even though she was terrified to compete in the Junior Olympics, her coach promised that the disciplined practices would pay off, and he was right. As a student at Cedarville, Dr. Don Callan noticed Libby’s passion for both gymnastics and swimming. Later, when her husband started working as the Pastor of Christian Education at Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville, Dr. Callan asked if she would be interested in teaching those classes. So, in 1979, Libby was hired as an adjunct professor. Libby met her husband, Byron, at Cedarville, and while he served as Christian Education Pastor, she was involved in a variety of church ministries — traveling on mission trips with high school students, developing various children’s ministries, leading Bible studies, and providing leadership to the Women’s Missionary Fellowship. She has mentored college students, cared for foster children and unwed mothers through the Baptist Children’s Home, taught physical education at Xenia Christian School, and worked as a lifeguard and Aquatic Director at the YMCA. In 1995, the Lord took Byron and Libby and two of their four children to Russia for a year to investigate what later became a new ministry of modular theological education in Eurasia that continues to today. When they returned to the States to live, they hosted two foreign exchange students from Russia and have made numerous trips back to that region of the world. One of Libby’s students said, “She encouraged my pursuit to understand Who God really is. She shows so much passion in her relationship, need, and trust in God and brings that excitement to the classroom.” Libby says, “Cedarville reinforced my biblical foundation and showed me that spiritual development should be integrated with every aspect of my being.” Many years ago, Libby chose 2 Corinthians 3:18 as her life verse and wrote in the margin of her Bible, “giving God’s invisible character a glimpse of visibility.” Her goal in life has been to be empty of self and filled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.