Glen Richard Shelton

Glen was born at Fort Benning, Georgia, the first of four children to Louis and Leta Shelton. Glen’s dad was a career Army officer and the family moved many times during his life, including east coast, mid west, California and Greece. This moving around strengthened the family ties and family has always been a priority for Glen.

He started college at Florida Institute of Technology, but failed to make good grades as, in his words, he was majoring in body surfing. As the Vietnam War draft loomed, he volunteered for the Air Force and served his time in Tehran, Iran in an electronics job. Then he enrolled in NCSU. His parents were living in NC at the time and his brother was living in Raleigh. He began majoring in physics, then switched to computer science. His physics connections led him to meet his wife, Monica, while they both worked at the EPA one summer. They married two years later. Glen went to work for IBM after taking some courses for a master’s degree, but life got busy and he didn’t complete his thesis in operational math. Monica went to medical school. Sarah was born four months prior to her beginning residency. Glen happily described himself as a married single father. Anna was born five years later and Monica went into practice part time so as to share the parenting responsibilities.

After working for IBM for about twenty years, progressing from a computer programmer to being a manager of programmers, he joined a start up company, Taproot, as a manager. Taproot changed to Neusoft. His responsibilities grew, then shrank and he retired at age 62. At that time, he dedicated himself to his hobbies and to being a wonderful house husband.

Glen has always approached his interests with enthusiasm and curiosity. His hobbies and activities changed over the years according to practicalities and opportunities. He has enjoyed chess, karate, backpacking, softball, volleyball, sea kayaking, stunt kite flying, kiteboarding, pistol target shooting, music listening in high fidelity, Krav Maga and espresso brewing. He would immerse himself in an interest, researching, and pushing his performance through knowledge, practice and optimal hardware. He was eager to share the activities that he loved, from encouraging interest to teaching, or just making you a latte.

When he began to feel tired while trying to do two Krav classes back to back, one might chalk it up to the fact that he was 68 and just getting back into an exercise activity. Once he had pain, he quickly sought medical attention. He felt that the diagnosis of colon cancer was serious, and indeed, each step of the way reinforced that feeling as the cancer had spread even before treatment began, and it did not respond to any treatment. At the outset, he said that he had no regrets about his life and that he did not need to worry about pursuing a bucket list as he had already lived the experiences that comprised a worthy bucket list. He stoically endured the tribulations and pain afforded by cancer treatment, but could not triumph. He will be sorely missed by his loving family and friends.

Glen is survived by his wife, Monica, his older daughter, Sarah Shelton and her husband Andres Arana of Boston, MA, his younger daughter, Anna Shelton of Chapel Hill and Oxford, NC. Also, his parents, Louis and Leta Shelton of Bowling Green, KY; brother Paul Shelton, Sr. and his wife Sharyl of Oxford, NC; sister Joan Norris of Bowling Green, KY; sister Laura Hicks and her husband Larry Hicks of Lexington, KY; nieces and nephews Joseph Norris of Oxford, NC, Paul Shelton, Jr. and his wife Mara, their children Ben and Reilly of Franklinton, NC, Lee Anne Lequick and her husband Drew, their children Alton and Leah of Oxford, NC, Robert Hicks of Lexington, Matthew Hicks and his wife Joy, their daughter Shiloh. Also many cousins.

Arrangements with Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, Cary, North Carolina.