Anne Marie Shelton

Anne was born in Burlington, VT to Hilas P. Murphy and Genevieve E. Bizarro. Her Irish father was raised by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s Orphanage and went on to become captain of the Burlington Police Force. He died when Anne was just 14 years old. Her Italian mother went on to raise Anne and her 3 brothers on her own, working nights at DeGoesbriand hospital as an RN to be home during the day with her children.

Although Anne was deeply impacted by the death of her father, she held a lifelong attitude of always keeping her “sunny side up.” On long, cold walks to and from Christ the King grade school, she would tap maple trees for syrup. During WW2 blackouts, she made a game of watching “the man with the lantern” walk up and down her street. The consummate social butterfly, she worked at the local soda fountain, overhearing all the town’s stories (only to repeat them later). She became senior class president at Cathedral High School, graduating in 1951. She entered the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Springfield, MA only to Burlington three years later to work in the obstetrics unit of the same hospital as her mother.

Longing to see the ocean, Anne joined the U.S. Navy as an Ensign. She was transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital, Corona, California, becoming a Lieutenant JG. It was here that, one day, walking through the Emergency Room on her way to the Nurse’s Quarters, she set her sights on “a sweet, young thing” from Iowa: hospital corpsman, Carl Shelton. Because she outranked the handsome petty officer, they quietly dated and worked side by side – making hospital beds together in secret. When Anne was transferred to Newport Naval Hospital in Rhode Island and Carl went to college, they talked for a year and played a coy game of chicken before deciding to marry at St. Anthony’s Church in Burlington, 1958. Inspired by Anne’s devotion to her faith, Carl converted to Catholicism before the wedding.

Anne entered the reserves and became a full Lieutenant, working as the Assistant Director of Nurses at the University of Iowa’s Psychiatric Hospital. In 1960, she gave birth to her son, Carl Christopher after a full day of work. He would visit her every week for the rest of his life. In 1963, the family moved to Massachusetts, where Anne had another son, Stephen Anthony. She loved Chris and Steve and was very proud of the men they became.

When the family lived in Stratford, PA, Anne developed a life-long friendship with several Norbertine priests at Daylesford Abbey who would visit and cook with her wherever she moved. After a brief time in Lake Forest, IL, the family finally settled in San Diego, CA in 1976, per Anne’s wish to be by the ocean. Anne worked as the RN at the Casa de Mañana retirement community in La Jolla, attending to the Scripps family among many other grateful patients. She had a firm touch, but her laugh and wry humor put people at ease. Her discipline and respect for medicine made her the top of her field.

Anne always used to say that “there is so much we don’t know about the human brain,” so it is sadly ironic that she developed dementia that progressed into early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. She recognized her grandchildren in hand squeezes and her husband in childlike kisses in the quiet moments before dawn.

Anne is survived by her husband, Dcn. Carl A. Shelton, her son, Stephen A. Shelton of Encinitas, and by her brother and sister-in-law, Douglas and Maureen Murphy of North Port, FL. She is also survived by her daughters-in-law Christine and Cindy; her grandchildren, Julianne (Billy Hamlin), Marie Grace, Christopher Aaron, and Cierra Christine; her great-grandchild, William; several nieces and nephews; and her best friend, Mary McGinley. Anne is predeceased by her son, Chris; by her parents; by brothers, H. Peter (Mona) and Donald (Brownie); and by countless friends including Sr. Mary Dolores OSB and Fr. James McMullin SJ.

A visitation for Anne will be held Monday, August 16, 2021 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at St Michaels Church, 2643 Homedale Street, San Diego, CA 92139. A funeral service will occur Tuesday, August 17, 2021 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, 2643 Homedale Street, San Diego, CA 92139.