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Rachel Wiseman Shelton passed away on Sunday, March 15, 2009, after a long and difficult struggle with congestive heart failure and dementia brought about by her diagnosis of breast cancer several years ago.
She was raised in Roanoke, Virginia during the Great Depression and WWII.
She married Army Major Robert D. Shelton and left her family and Roanoke as a young bride and moved often as was the life of a military wife. Stops in Arizona, New Jersey, Alabama, and Iran followed and when Robert was sent to Vietnam, she was left to raise five children. Although overwhelmed by this...
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Rachel Wiseman Shelton passed away on Sunday, March 15, 2009, after a long and difficult struggle with congestive heart failure and dementia brought about by her diagnosis of breast cancer several years ago.
She was raised in Roanoke, Virginia during the Great Depression and WWII.
She married Army Major Robert D. Shelton and left her family and Roanoke as a young bride and moved often as was the life of a military wife. Stops in Arizona, New Jersey, Alabama, and Iran followed and when Robert was sent to Vietnam, she was left to raise five children. Although overwhelmed by this task, her fighting and feisty nature prevailed.
After his passing, she remarried Warrant Officer Tom Kinkusich and several more moves brought the family to Kansas, Iowa and Bellingham. She was not happy in the move to Bellingham and she and Tom divorced. She then began a vagabond life staying with her now adult children for short periods of time before finally settling back in Bellingham to be nearer her youngest grandchildren.
She taught her children by her independence and she was always loyal and charitable to her children and her grandchildren.
She lost her first son Steven when he was very young and a grandson Patrick Shelton; she was always a fierce defender of her children and left no doubt that her will was unshakable when matters of her family arose.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Viola Kingery Wiseman; father, Harvey Wiseman; and seven of her siblings.
She is survived by her sister, Francis Poff; her children: Cynthia Shelton, Monica Perbeck (Frank), Janet Mellody (Rob), Robert D. Shelton Jr. (Colleen) and Richard Shelton. She is also survived by 14 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren (with three more on the way) and a clan of nieces and nephews.
She enjoyed home remodeling, gardening, sewing and crafts but mostly spending time with her family. Her biggest regret was not having all of her children together geographically so they could spend more time together. She was able to make peace with the difficult decisions she felt she had to make throughout her life and believed strongly that she would be happy in heaven, finally able to spend the time with her family to laugh about the "good times" they all enjoyed as they were growing up. The saying, "You can take the girl out of Virginia but not Virginia out of the girl" always applied to Rachel. She will be missed by those few who knew her and her legacy of will and determination will be forever felt in the hearts of those who loved her. Our prayers are that she finds the joy in Heaven that she sought so desperately in her life. We will miss her, but her single minded nature and sheer will to live is embedded in all of us who she raised and whom she loved completely.
No services will be held per her wishes and her ashes will be dispersed to her children in the many locations that Rachel called home in her life.
The family wishes to thank the many professionals who worked diligently to give her the best quality of life through her difficult final years: Bellingham Health & Rehabilitation, Whatcom Hospice, Eagle Ridge Nursing Home, the Senior Health Center, St. Josephs Hospital, Northwest Cardiology and of course, Dr. Harry Herdman.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Jerns Funeral Chapel in Bellingham, WA.
(Jerns Funeral Chapel) |
