Gordon Calhoun Shelley

Gordon Calhoun

SHELLEY

Long-time Reno attorney and businessman, Gordon Calhoun Shelley died in the company of family on April 22 at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, Calif. He was 92. Mr. Shelley came to Reno in 1944 after serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He first found work selling ads for the Nevada State Journal and enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno. In less than four years from his first day as an undergraduate, he completed a BA degree at Stanford University and earned his law degree from the University of Denver. He returned to Reno and taught Economics and Sociology at UNR while building his law practice, eventually earning his law doctorate and two degrees in international law.

For the next four decades, Mr. Shelley was active in many local organizations and businesses, including Carson-Tahoe Aviation and Sax of Reno, a high-end women's clothing store. He was a past owner of central Nevada's RO Ranch, which included major pieces of the Big Smoky and Ione valleys, and the Shoshone, Toiyabe and Monte Cristo ranges. Mr. Shelley retired from law and moved to Florida in the early 1990s, but treasured his years in the West. Like many Nevadans of his era he admired the state's open feel and rugged people.

Named for his grandfathers, Edward Gordon Wilson, a wagon master, and John Calhoun Shelley, a soldier in the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Shelley was born to Ruth Esther Wilson and Oliver Robert Shelley, a farmer and his wife, in Monterey, CA. Shortly after his birth the family purchased a ranch near Linden where he acquired a strong connection to the land and an even stronger work ethic. He began his education in a one-room school in Douglas, and was graduated from Linden Union High School in 1932. His first job off of the ranch was as a night watchman with Taylor Milling Corp., a pioneer in the livestock feed industry. One night, Mr. Shelley mistook the company's owner for an intruder and forcibly ejected him from his own premises. This impressed the owner, and Shelley was groomed to represent Taylor on the San Francisco Grain Exchange.

True to his farmer's heritage, Mr. Shelley was reverent to the land and its potential to nourish the body and spirit. He also spoke often of the value of education, saying that it taught a person how to live a life. He was proud, too, of his 50-year association with the Masonic and Scottish Rite Bodies. He was a 32nd Degree Mason, last active with Blue Lodge, No. 45 in Sparks. In his final years, he was grateful to the friends, colleagues, former clients and family who helped buoy his spirits as he struggled with severe macular degeneration.

Mr. Shelley is preceded in death by his brother O.R. Shelley, Jr. and sister Loretta Van Dover, both of Stockton, and two of his five children, David and Roger Shelley. He is survived by his son Richard Shelley of Los Angeles, his two adopted sons Scott Shelley of Yerington and Cameron Shelley of Reno and their mother, his former wife, business partner and friend for more than 40 years, Gretchen Redwine of Yerington. He has six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His former partner, Elsie Morales of Altamonte Springs, FL, her daughter and grandson also survive him.

He will be honored in a group memorial at the Veterans Home of California, Yountville on May 15. In lieu of flowers please make donations to RANGE Magazine, P.O. Box 639, Carson City, NV 89702, (800) 726-4348; or a charity of your choice.