Georgia Tolly Shelton – Obituary

by Lynn McMillen
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georgiaGeorgia Tolly Shelton of Decatur died Tuesday, July 26, after a long illness from heart disease. She was 81.

A Memorial Service will be Friday at 2 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, where she served as an elder, 701 Oak St. NE, Decatur. Memorials can be sent to Presbyterian Home for Children, P.O. Drawer 577, Talladega, AL 35161.

Her parents were Gaddis and Georgia Gilmer of South Carolina.

Her husband, Barrett C. Shelton Jr., retired editor and publisher of The Decatur Daily, survives her. Other survivors; daughter Leigh Cassady, Enterprise; son Clint (Nicole) Shelton, Decatur; Caroline (Joe) Mercer, Savannah, Ga.; and grandchildren Calvin, Georgia, William, Hudson, Margaret and Louise.

Barrett and Tolly met in Chattanooga, Tenn., at a greasy spoon where she took afternoon coffee breaks from her work at the Social Security Administration, and he regularly ate breakfast before beginning his night shift at the Chattanooga Times.

They married April 12, 1958 at First Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and returned to Decatur where she devoted a majority of her time to rearing their three children. Later those children and their spouses would give her six grandchildren.

In Decatur, Tolly marched to her own belief system which was formed by her early years in the Piedmont Region and Low Country of South Carolina where her ancestors were small farmers and tradesmen. She drew her faith from a line descended from a German Huguenot Immigrant who apprenticed himself to a furniture maker. He later started a family business that survived in Anderson, S.C. until her father entered the Army during WWII. She received her name from the same line when her parents named her for her grandfather, George Tolly, who died two days before she was born.

Tolly loved to garden and attempted to have flowers year-round so she could place them each Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Decatur. When her own garden flowers weren’t available, she was known to scout alleys and neighbors yards to borrow her components. She would arrange them on Saturdays in the fall to avoid football games, but appreciated that The Bear and Nick kept her husband happy.

She led the first integrated Brownie and Girl Scout troops at Gordon-Bibb Elementary. She also served as a volunteer tutor at Lakeside High School during the early days of integration to help ease students’ move to new schools. Tolly’s efforts further confirmed her opinion that separate was not equal. She was always a champion for the minority and most recently the plight of immigrants to the U.S. Tolly was a Yellow Dog Democrat who’s heart is broken that she can’t vote for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

In the early Decatur years, she participated in various organizations including the Junior Service League and Decatur Cotillion. Her name is featured in the well-known Cotton Country Cookbook. In her leisure time she and four other women organized a tennis team and participated in matches throughout the area. Tolly played tennis regularly into her 80s.

Tolly was an environmentalist before the word was in the national lexicon. She despised litter and often carried a garbage sack on her exercise walks. She preached recycling. Her children once looked out a window at Decatur High School and saw their mother dumpster-diving for aluminum cans. Her example is reflected in her children; all pick up trash while walking.

After WWII, her mother took Tolly and her younger brother Bill, now deceased, to join their father in Vienna, Austria. She loved the city and was fascinated by the different culture. She and her brother attended the Volks Opera where for 50 cents artists performed minor operas. The weekly afternoon excursions were her favorites.

The family returned to Mt. Pleasant and moved into a small house while her father taught at the Citadel in Charleston. She graduated second in her class at Moultrie High School. High scores on a standardized test gave her the scholarship money she needed to attend college. She scored No. 10 in South Carolina and in the 19th percentile in the nation. She was on her way to Converse College, a women’s liberal arts college in Spartanburg, S.C. Her parents were on their way to a posting in Tokyo.

By the second semester of her junior year, she decided to see Japan. She flew from South Carolina to Washington State and sailed on a troop ship to Tokyo. She worked on a military base, and immersed herself in the Japanese language and culture. She finished college by transferring credits earned in Tokyo at International Christian University and Sophia University to Converse.

By then she knew she wanted to experience cultures and entertain ideas beyond her Southern exposure. She instilled that in her children as well as her love of travel. Over the years, she visited at least 52 different countries. She was willing to go anywhere and on one trip broke her leg on the Great Wall of China.

Tolly never stopped studying. She graduated from The University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1979 with a master of art in English. She was an avid reader and researcher. She was a member of the Morgan County Genealogical Society. During the 15 years she owned her antique business, G. Tolly & Co., she enjoyed the research the most in her business.

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