Shelby Lee Dietrich Rector

1924 - 2019

Shelby Lee Dietrich Rector, loving mother, pioneering physician, devoted friend, and lover of all things related to the High Sierra died of natural causes on August 12, 2019 in Pasadena, California. She was 95. Born in 1924, Shelby grew up in Lexington Kentucky. A precocious student who exhausted her teachers, Shelby skipped two grades, won many awards in high school and thrived as a Speech and Debate competitor. Earning both her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan, Shelby was a Wolverine to her core. Irving Rector (d. 2002), her cherished husband of 51 years, was the witty one, the one who listened. Theirs was a marriage for the ages, one that produced three daughtersand a mutual love of Neighborhood Unitarian Church and the High Sierra. Shelby did not go around parading the fact that she was a breakout feminist. Yet she was way ahead of the curve. In her medical school class of 118 students, 15 were women. And Shelby was the one who would go on to become a world renown leader amongst physicians working to find a cure for AIDS and the tainted blood that began infiltrating the Hemophilia community in the early 1980s. Later, Shelby helped to found Young and Healthy of Pasadena, which brings free medical, dental and mental healthcare to underserved children. Shelby had a cadre of friends of every age, ethnicity, sexual orientation and profession. Her's was a true rainbow life. She leaves behind daughters Sarah Rector Aguilar, Lucy Rector Filppu and Ann Chapin Rector, son-in-law Len Filppu, daughter-in-law Nancy Megli, and grandchildren Albert Aguilar, Arthur Filppu, Dori Filppu and Alexi Seale. Memorial services will be held Saturday, August 31st at 4:00 p.m. at Neighborhood Church in Pasadena. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Young and Healthy of Pasadena https://yhpasadena.org/