Aldona Shelton

ALDONA SHELTON, died in hospice at her home in the Georgetown district of Seattle on Sunday, June 1, 2014 at the age of 92.   Cause of death was metastatic colon cancer.  Aldona was born in Ludington Michigan in 1922 in the family’s farmhouse to Anna (Berskis) Gilda and Alexander Gilda, first generation Lithuanian immigrants.  She was the youngest of three siblings, all deceased, and is survived by her three children, Ralph (Trey), Paul, and Roger Shelton, and three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.  Aldona was raised in Detroit, graduating from Pershing High School, and married Ralph R. Shelton Jr. while he served in WWII.  After her divorce from Ralph in 1973, she began a career in real estate investment and management, renovating numerous properties, while owning and managing a car wash, a motel, and two apartment buildings.

She will be remembered for her unbounded energy and hard work, right up to a couple months before her passing.  She never really retired, as she seemed to enjoy her work more than any vacation. There was no circumstance that could keep her down for long, and her fearless approach to living sustained her through many hardships.  She was a very creative individual with (sadly) many undeveloped talents that were forever subordinate to her work.  She loved gardening and cooking and dabbling in stocks and real estate, always keeping a sharp eye out for another good house to flip.

If there is to be any worth accorded to one’s life, it lies in how much we helped others along the way.  Aldona’s life was, by this standard, exemplary, as she did virtually nothing without a consideration of how she could use her labor and production, either in the amenities of an apartment or motel room, or the fruits of her bountiful garden and orchard, to give someone else a happier day.  Such are the people we wish could live forever.  It is her memory that will be missed when we’re up a ladder in a cherry tree, when we’re picking tomatoes rarely as big and red as hers, or when we recall her open heart to all who needed a helping hand.  Please rest in peace, dear mother, and know that your inspiration and example live on in all those who knew and loved you.