Our dear Robert ‘Bob’ Clifton Shelton, loving husband, father, son, brother, stepfather, uncle and friend, as well as Westport City Councilman, left this earth on March 7, 2015, and he will be missed so very much. His enlarged heart was his undoing. Bob never fully left Vietnam behind, and so he is now free.
Bob was born June 13, 1947 in Oakland, California, at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. He spent most of his young life in California and Texas. His early years were shared with his beloved maternal grandparents, his “Nana” & “Pa,” and then later, his only brother, Gerry. Bob went to school in both Belle Aire and Dallas, Texas, and then in Sacramento, California, where he graduated from El Camino High School in 1965. He’d been a member of St. Mark’s Church, and was Northern California DeMolay Association’s Senior Master Councilor.
He joined the U.S. Marine Corps to fight for what he believed and wanted to go to Vietnam. As an infantryman, Bob’s experiences were something he could not share. He came home to a very unwelcoming country, where he was called “a baby killer,” and had a professor at American River Junior College in Sacramento, give him an ‘F’ grade just because he’d fought in Vietnam. He knew others who’d been spit upon.
Bob stayed in the Sacramento area, becoming owner of four Round Table Pizza Parlors, and was a successful and happy businessman. He married Judith Boggs and had his precious only son, Brian Charles Shelton. He divorced, and later married Karen Fisher. His other forever love was fishing, and the many RV adventures they took, along with many visits to the family vacation home near Rosarita in Mexico.
In 1993, he reacquainted with former schoolmate Donnell Bartmann MacKinnon, who he called “the love of his life,” and moved to Washington State. After a few years managing several ARCO stations, and their move to Westport, Bob and Donnell were married on the steps of the Grays Harbor Lighthouse in 1998. His parents followed him to Westport from Sacramento, and built a home across from them. Bob went to work at the old Ocean Charters office and then became manager of Coley’s – a longtime favorite fish and chowder house in Westport. He was also a host at Half Moon Bay Bar & Grill for several years. He worked the derby weigh station during the 2010 and 2011 recreational fishing seasons.
Bob’s proudest accomplishment in Westport was his election to the Westport City Council. He always loved politics and found sufficient ‘trials and tribulations’ to be dealt with right in his own small town. He was very involved in each new agenda item, and always stood by what he believed, rather than be swayed by his peers. He had every intention of finishing his term and running again.
Bob leaves behind his loving wife of 16 ½ years, Donnell, of Westport, his dear mother, Marion Davis Shelton, of Davis, California, his son Brian (daughter-in-law Kristin, and grandchildren Aria, Kaila, Ian and new baby Siena Jade who he never met – all of whom he loved so much) of Henderson, Nevada, his step-children: Jennifer, Katherine, and Michael (daughter-in-law Amelia, and granddaughters Ava and Layla – who were very precious to him) all of the NW, and by his dear brother Gerry (sister-in-law Sharon), and dear nieces Mieko and Misa and their families – all of Davis, Calif., as well as great friends from Florida to California and Westport.
He was preceded in death by his devoted and very loved and missed father, Frazier Clifton Shelton, in October 2013, and all of his friends and buddies on The Wall.
Bob will be missed a great deal and was loved very much.
