Shelton Death - Tazewell Co. VA

(Submitter note:  This article is a clipping taken from the Richland News Press in the possession
of Willy Shelton.)

Sgt. Shelton Victim of Heart Attack

Melvin S. Shelton, the first man ever to be named sergeant on the Richlands Police Force,  died
of a heart attack while working on duty Saturday, Dec. 21, about 4 p.m.
  Shelton, a former taxi operator in Richlands, had been a member of the Police Department for 
eight years and was elevated to the position of Sergeant last July.
  Fellow officers said Shelton was working traffic on Suffolk avenue when he became ill at 3:25
p.m. He hitched a ride to Norfolk Street, where Chief Covo Gardner was working traffic and 
collapsed.
  The chief took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival, the officers 
said.
  The victim's wife, Mrs. Phyllis L. Shelton, was in Bluefield at the time the tradegy occurred 
and was under sedation for shock that night in a Richlands hospital.
  He was the son of Mrs. Nancy Smith Shelton of Red Ash, and the late Robert Shelton.
  Survivors, other than his wife and mother, include a son, Bobby Shelton, of Raven; a daughter,
Cynthia Shelton of Miami, Fla.; two sisters, Mrs. Exa Compton of Raven and Mrs. Minnie Compton 
of Red Ash; and two brothers, Luther Shelton of Richlands and Bascom Shelton of Red Ash.
  Funeral services were held Dec. 24 at the Hurst-Scott Funeral Home with Rev. Letcher Reid 
officiating, and burial was in Clinch Valley Memorial Cemetery.
 
  Pallbearers were members of the Richlands Police Department and members of the Tazewell County
Sheriff's Department.
  Honorary pallbearers were Mayor W. W. Fields, Town Manager Jim Cranwell, and members of the 
Richlands Town Council.


Submitted by Willy Shelton <WShe703048@aol.com>

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