JEAN SHELTON

1934 - 2024

JEAN YVONNE RITTER SHELTON

Jan. 19, 1934 – July 29, 2024

Jean Yvonne Ritter Shelton, 90, of El Centro, CA was called home to be with the Lord on Monday, July 29, 2024.

Jean was born January 19, 1934, in Talihina, Oklahoma. Her family later settled in Tucson, AZ, where she graduated from high school in 1952 and a few short months later married Vernon Shelton on September 7, 1952, in Tucson. They met while in Keyes, CA during their middle school years, as his friend group were her cousins. Every summer they would travel up to Keyes to pick fruit for a canning factory. After marriage, Vernon and Jean settled down in the Imperial Valley. Vernon and Jean adopted two boys, Daniel and David in 1961 and 1963. Once the boys were in middle school, Jean decided to go back to school and get her teaching credential. She graduated from SDSU-Imperial Valley Campus in 1973. She started out teaching (and ended up staying with) kindergarten and was loved by all her students and colleagues. She began teaching at Myron D. Witter and then moved to Phil D. Swing. Years later, she still remembered her students and would often tell us stories from her time as a teacher. One of her favorite projects was raising chickens from an egg and having the kids watch them hatch. Her grandkids loved it too because even when she was retired the current teachers still continued the project and would give her all the chicks to take home and they'd get to play with them. She also made sure all the grandkids could read and write before they started school. After 18 years, she retired from teaching in 1991, the same year as Vernon, so they could enjoy retirement together. They enjoyed traveling in their trailer every summer to escape the heat.

Jean was an excellent seamstress and cook. Growing up, Danny and David's friends always knew her famous monster cookies were in the freezer and she also made sure to keep some chocolate chip in there too just for Vernon. Whenever she would bake them she'd always make sure to make a huge batch and store them for all the kids. She made most of her own clothes and loved going to fabric stores, she would even take her sewing machine on the road with them when they were traveling. One of her most notable projects was even making a costume for a pygmy goat, she got a kick out of that, especially having to make a place for its tail.

Jean was the sweetest woman who held faith and family to the highest degree. For 65+ years, she and Vernon attended Assembly of God Church in El Centro every Wednesday evening and twice on Sundays. She will truly be missed.

Jean Yvonne Ritter Shelton was preceded in death by her parents, Joe and Lucille Ritter; brother, John Ritter; and her husband of 68 years, Floyd Vernon Shelton.

She is survived by her sons, Daniel (Stacy) Shelton and David (Monica) Shelton; grandchildren, Madison, Sonora, Jackson, and Sierra Shelton; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held Thursday, August 22, 2024, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Frye Chapel in Imperial. Memorial services will be held at Valley Life Church in El Centro on Friday, August 23, 2024, at 10 a.m., with burial to follow at Evergreen Cemetery.