Beverly and Jerry Shea Jr. Lee Ball Photography

It was unexpected…but it said a lot about their partnership when the couple being interviewed about their philanthropic work wanted to begin the conversation with how they met.  After all, a blind date and their beloved college set the stage for the course of their lives. 

The story goes that at the end of their freshmen year at LSU in 1969, Beverly, a girl from Kentucky, called a friend at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house and said she needed a date.  The friend yells out, “Will someone date this girl!” and a young man from Coteau, Jerry Shea, was within earshot and replies, “I’ll go out with her!”  Four years later, they were married and started a journey creating a family and sharing a life together – a life that has become even more meaningful by sharing the experience of giving.

The Iberia residents’ involvement in giving is like a philanthropic version of the game Twister, extending themselves to many causes at the same time, but with much more discernment.

They have been staunch supporters of LSU, the college they both credit for placing them where they are today. Jerry who received a Master of Business Administration and Beverly, with a Master of Science in Human Ecology, aim to give students the same shot at a future in Louisiana.

The couple says their parents were advocates of higher education. “It made us what we are today,” Jerry says.  “LSU changed our lives and we’re hoping to change the lives of others,” Beverly adds.

In gratitude, they have been deeply entrenched in helping others seek higher education at LSU, making a number of major gifts to the university over the course of some 30 years. 

Jerry established the Beverly Shea Endowed Professorship in Human Ecology and the Beverly G. and Jerry E. Shea Endowed Top 100 Scholarships through the LSU Alumni Association.  The Sheas are major donors to the Jack & Priscilla Andonie Museum and to the Cook Hotel & Conference Center.  They have been diehard supporters of LSU’s tiger foundation; in fact, Jerry is a member of the Tiger Athletic Foundation Board of Directors.  He was also on the university’s board of supervisors for six years, at one time serving as chairman.

The couple’s most recent donation will help in the construction of the new business education complex on the LSU campus.

Their commitment is acknowledged by numerous awards and honors in addition to Jerry’s recent recognition by the Ourso College of Business. In 2001, he was inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction.  The two have received LSU Foundation Laureate Society’s President’s Award for Lifetime Support. And, they were bestowed a Purple & Gold Award for philanthropic support from the LSU Alumni Association.

Two years ago, Delta Tau Delta awarded Jerry with their Lifetime Achievement Award, for which he is very proud.  “I learned many things about business and philanthropy as a ‘Delt’ serving the Epsilon Kappa Chapter at LSU as treasurer, president and rush chairman,” he says.

Likewise, Beverly absorbed much about philanthropy through her sorority Delta Gamma whose motto back then was “Do Good” and whose charity was the School for the Blind.  “As a pledge, you were taken there; we put on events for the kids and mentored them. That touched me,” she says.

It also helped that the Sheas were raised with a philosophy of giving back.  Both say they were taught the tremendous values of kindness, honesty, striving to do their best and living by the Golden Rule:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

None of that was lost on Beverly and Jerry Shea.  Today, they have high convictions in what they believe in, including a thriving New Iberia, which for Jerry means ways of keeping more young people in the city and for Beverly providing more opportunities and housing for them to want to stay.

Towards that goal, the couple supports Iberia Parish Alliance for the Arts, the Iberia Cultural Resources Association, Iberia Parish Foundation – Community Foundation of Acadiana, Bayou Teche Museum, Shadows on the Teche, Solomon House, Iberia Homeless Shelter for Men and The Unexpected Pregnancy Center, a year-old initiative to decrease the number of abortions.  The Shea’s were also financial backers in the building of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Iberia 15 years ago and strong participants in the capital campaign for the rebuilding of St. Edward School.

Advocates of education at all levels, Beverly and Jerry are especially motivated to giving young children a chance at a brighter future.  After losing a child at birth 40 years ago, the couple decided to devote monies they had earmarked for future schooling to dedicated students needing the funds to attend St. Edward School.

Jerry says another giving experience close to his heart with St. Edward is a scholarship fund established there by him and his five siblings in their parents’ name.  The Jerry and Harriet Shea Scholarship was given to a graduating third grader at St. Edward and pays for the student to go on to New Iberia Catholic from fourth through 12th grade. 

Beverly receives quarterly reports of the child’s activities from the mother as a show of her gratitude.

Three years into the scholarship, the mother remains grateful saying, “It has been an honor and a blessing to our family to be a recipient of the Shea Family Scholarship.  This scholarship has assisted us with the expenses associated with a Catholic education while giving us the opportunity for our child to participate in extracurricular activities and continued growth in our Catholic faith.  We remain grateful and will continue to pay it forward through our ongoing involvement in our community through service to and for others.”

Since selling the family business, Bayou Companies in 2009, Jerry works as Director of Business and Development for Stupp Coatings, where his son is president. Beverly keeps busy serving on LSU Alumni Association’s National Board of Directors, as Chairman of District 3, which brings her to Baton Rouge routinely. 

They have two sons, one who lives out of state and the other who resides out of the country, and four grandchildren who they make a point of seeing throughout the year.  The couple enjoys traveling, which includes, of course, taking them to most LSU games.

“We’ve been blessed with opportunities, but the most fulfilling has been the opportunity to give back,” Jerry says. 

Having blind faith has served the Shea’s well, leading them into marriage and guiding them to helping others.  To that point, Jerry advises to have faith because “faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable and receives the impossible.”

Here’s something to keep in mind in truly making a difference in your community.  Giving is taught and reinforced – and felt. If you help even two people and those two people help two others, the wave starts and that’s impactful.  An added bonus:  One five-year study proved that giving and being unselfish can protect your health and prolong your life.

5 Simple Ways to Give Back

-Parents, teach empathy at a young age by demonstrating it.

-Teachers, make giving a class project.

-Give time, money, clothing or a hot meal to those who have lost a home.

-Become a “buddy reader” at an elementary school. 

-Truly enrich the life of someone by sharing your skills and talents through:  art, carpentry, music, teaching, cooking or sewing.  Identify something you love and share it!