Glenn Brandon Shelton of Huntsville, AL passed away unexpectedly Saturday, February 1, 2020 at the age of 86 following a brief illness.
Glenn was born in La Fayette, Kentucky March 31, 1933 to the late Ernest Sylvester Shelton and Ethel Schrader Shelton. Glenn was raised on a farm in KY and enjoyed sharing many stories of his upbringing. He graduated from Pembroke High School in Pembroke, KY. Glenn enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War and was stationed in Charlotte, NC. During this time, he met the love of his life, Peggy Craig. They married on October 9, 1954 following his honorable discharge from the Air Force. Glenn and Peggy were married for 50 years, her death occurring shortly after this anniversary.
Glenn was an electrical engineer. He received his BS degree in electrical engineering from University of Kentucky and his master’s degree from Purdue University. Glenn and Peggy moved their family to Huntsville in 1966. He worked at numerous space/defense contractors, including Sperry Rand, TAI, Nichols Research, Dynetics and CSC. He loved his work and was through and through an engineer to include the precise hanging of pictures, the precise placing of sheets on the bed, filing all paperwork in ordered files and never purging these. He was a perfectionist, which was at times either a source of frustration or amusement to his wife. He received many awards, patents and publications during his 50-year career, but he was always overly humble about these accomplishments.
Glenn remained a lifelong fan of UK basketball even to the point of making an antenna in the 1970’s so he could listen to the games on the radio. He also enjoyed growing a wide variety of plants which he passed on to his children. Glenn was an avid science fiction reader, computer user and Sudoku player. He was very happy to have had the chance to travel after retirement, including driving to the west coast and the Midwest, and taking an Alaskan cruise and a Rhine River cruise.
Glenn moved to Redstone Village in 2005 and remained there the rest of his life. He loved his apartment and made many dear friends at Redstone Village. He participated in many friendly, but competitive pool and Wii bowling tournaments. He made many good friends at the jigsaw puzzle table and was known to continue working on them until the early hours of the morning. Glenn took pride in the many and varied plants he grew on his balcony and in his kitchen hydroponic system. He especially loved the chocolate éclairs, strawberry ice cream and pecan pie that the very dear café and dining room servers would bring to his table without his asking for them. Glenn’s family appreciates everyone at Redstone Village for the kindness and care they provided to him.
Glenn is survived by his two children, Mark (Amy) of Harvest, AL and Jill of Huntsville, AL; his two grandchildren, Abby and Chris; eight grandcats; two great-grandcats; two great-grandhedgehogs; many cousins, nieces, nephews and sisters- and brothers-in-law. Glenn was preceded in death by his three sisters and four brothers.
Visitation will be from 1-2 p.m. Monday, February 10th at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. The funeral will follow at 2 p.m.in the funeral home chapel.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to UK School of Engineering at uky.networkforgood.com, Wounded Warriors, or to The Foundation/US Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation at gospaceeducation.org.
