Loyd Ransom Shelton passed away on Dec. 3, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. at the age of 93.

Loyd was born in Bedford County on Dec. 4, 1930, to Elizabeth Vera and John Bartley Shelton. When Loyd was young, his grandmother (Narcissa Keele) was part of the household. She was a Godly woman, full of love and kindness. Loyd would watch her sit in her rocking chair, read her Bible, and sing hymns. In all the time that she lived with them, he never saw her get angry. One day he said, “Grandma, I want to be a Christian sometime.” Later he regretted not adding, “Because of you.”

The year that Loyd turned 12 was a difficult one: his beloved grandmother, his father, and one of his half-brothers all died that year. He later learned that before passing, his father had confided to his wife that he believed God was calling their son to preach. A few years later, on Aug. 18, 1945, Loyd attended a revival meeting in a little one-room school at Wards Chapel. It was there that he committed his life to Jesus. One of his favorite scriptures was Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Little did he know how his decision that night would be the beginning of a trust journey that would influence so many lives over the next eight decades!

Although Loyd wanted to attend college, he didn’t see how that could happen. His high school English teacher learned that Lincoln Memorial University was offering partial scholarships for winners of an essay contest, and she encouraged Loyd to write one. Being one of the winners motivated him to continue his education. Loyd’s goal was to graduate in three years by attending school during the summers, but he ran out of money as he neared completion. One of his professors, Amelia Clark, learned of this and offered to loan him what he needed. He was flabbergasted that a professor would do that for a student! After graduating in 1952 with a degree in English, he took a teaching job at a high school in Castlewood, Va, and was able to pay his debt to Ms. Clark in short order.

Meanwhile, war had broken out in Korea. Rather than waiting to be drafted, he volunteered for the Air Force. He trained in San Antonio, Texas at Lackland Air Force Base. He was later stationed at Randolph Air Force Base before finally being sent to his requested station in England with only 18 months of service remaining.

In England one night in 1955, Loyd was out riding his bike and came across a crowd outside a church. One of the women introduced him to some of the men gathered there. Unbeknownst to him, she then went inside to seek out a young woman named Kathleen Yeo. “There’s a nice, young American out there, just for you!” she said. Kathleen quickly replied, “I don’t want anything to do with a nice, young American!” A year later, they were married.

A year later, Loyd and Kathleen were asked to return to England to serve at the church they’d attended previously. From England, they were sent by the church to serve as missionaries in France, where they remained for three years. Their daughter, Lydia, was born there. There was little money, but God always provided.

In the mid-1960’s, the Sheltons relocated once again to Tennessee, Loyd’s childhood home. There, Kathleen gave birth to John, their fourth child. Over the next 50 years, Loyd honed his gifts of preaching and teaching. He taught school in Coffee County, Franklin County, Cornersville (Marshall County), and Beech Hill (Giles County), and pastored churches in Bunker Hill, Shelbyville, and Tullahoma. His home was always open (and often full). His phone was often busy. He made himself available to anyone and everyone who needed him. His specialties were listening and loving. He often rubbed shoulders with the disenfranchised: the hurting, the broken, the abused, the abandoned, alcoholics, addicts, or those who just needed a quiet place to rest. Someone once described Loyd and Kathleen’s home as a “hospital.” In many ways, it was: people went there to rest, recover, and heal. You could always count on a good meal and a bed, if you needed one. The house was full of love, laughter, faith, and peace. You could find it as soon as you walked in the door.

In their twilight years, Loyd and Kathleen returned to South Carolina, just a few miles from Columbia, where they’d started out years before. Even though he was no longer “officially” pastoring, he continued to love, teach, and minister to people as long as he had breath.

Remember Proverbs 3:5-6? He trusted the Lord with all his heart, he didn’t lean on his own understanding, he acknowledged the Lord in all his ways, and his paths were absolutely made straight. In a recent phone conversation he said, “I can look back and see the Lord doing things even before I was born. All my life…it’s amazing how He led me…there were all sorts of things where I could see and know that it was His hand in it.” A few weeks before he died, he prayed, “You were with me in the beginning. You’ll be with me at the end.” And so it was.

Loyd was preceded in death by his parents, John and Vera Shelton, and his beloved wife, Kathleen. He is survived by his four children, Stephen Shelton of Newton, North Carolina; Paul (Dorothy) Shelton of Petersburg, Illinois; Lydia (Juergen) Beck of Decatur, Alabama; and John Shelton of Irmo, South Carolina. He is also survived by five grandchildren, Isaac Shelton, Logan Shelton, Taylor Shelton, Grace Shelton, and Rachel (Ken) Castro.

The family would also like to express their deepest appreciation to Loyd and Kathleen’s caregiver, Rachel Troutwine. She loved and cared for them the way a daughter would, and in the process, became a much-loved addition to the family.

A funeral service is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15 at Doak-Howell Funeral Home in Shelbyville. Burial will follow in Holland Hill Cemetery in Coffee County. The family will receive friends from 3 – 6 p.m. on Saturday at the funeral home.

A memorial service will also be held in South Carolina at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family would request that donations be made in Loyd’s memory to Gideons International at gideons.org/donate or at PO Box 97251, Washington, DC 20090-7251. www.doakhowellfuneralhome.com.

Doak-Howell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Tullahoma News – Dec. 11, 2024