Dr. Jean Renner Short

SHORT, Dr. Jean Renner, 81, of Richmond, formerly of Clarksville, Va., died peacefully with friends at her side on April 5, 2009. Dr. Short was born in Hardy County, W.Va., the only child of Robert Renner and Mattie Snyder. She attended the Abbot School of Art in Washington, D.C., the elite Washington School for Secretaries, and Strayer Business College. She was preceded in death by her loving and devoted husband of 15 years, Shelton Hardaway Short III, historian, diplomat, and philanthropist, who was widely known for his contributions to historic preservation, higher education, and forestry. Before marrying Shelton and settling in Richmond, Mrs. Short worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Bureau of the Budget, Executive Office of the President, during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. Jean and her husband traveled extensively, especially enjoying together frequent stays at the Greenbrier and attending various forestry conventions nationwide. In 2000, both Jean and Shelton Short received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. The degrees honored their commitment to forests and wildlife, as well as to historic preservation, education, and humanitarianism. At Randolph-Macon, the couple directed much of their philanthropy to establishing two prominent, need-based scholarships for students from Southside Virginia. The couple also established a professorship and a scholarship in forestry at Virginia Tech. Dr. Short was a life member of the Virginia Foresters Association, the Southern Forest Farmers Association, Quail Unlimited, The Wild Turkey Federation, and the Forest Landowners Association, where she was named Forest Landowner of the year in 2004. Jean and Shelton gifted land to the Virginia Department of Forestry to construct The Forestry Center north of Boydton, Va. Jean served as a trustee of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and Educational Trust, agencies that oversee the running of Jamestown Settlement, Jamestown, and the Yorktown Victory Center. She was a four-term president of the Virginia First Thanksgiving Festival held annually at Berkeley Plantation. She was also a trustee of the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation at Red Hill near Brookneal, Va. Former Congressman Virgil Goode, during an address to the U.S. House of Representatives, noted that "Dr. Short and his wife, Jean, are distinguished citizens and active participants in their community in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. Their families contributed in significant ways to that community, to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to the Nation over the course of the last two centuries." A graveside memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 11, at Wheatland Cemetery near Boydton, Va.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.