KEITH MALCOM SHELDON, WHO SURVIVED DIRECT HIT ON HIS WORLD WAR II SHIP THAT KILLED MORE THAN 100 TO PLAY JAZZ IN NEW ORLEANS CLUBS
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Ann Sheldon Mezger’s amazing father passes away
The father of Ann Sheldon Mezger, my Features Department chief when
I was Television Editor at the BJ, passed away.
His life would make an enthralling, mesmerizing movie!
Minnesota native Keith Malcolm Sheldon played in his high school
band as a prelude to joining the U.S. Navy Band!
And served on the U.S.S. Wasp in the Pacific Ocean during World War
II. And survived a Japanese boming that killed 102 of those aboard!
Keith married New Orleans lady Ruth Elaine Thomas in 1948 when he wasn’t playing jazz in one of my
favorite cities in the world. Their six children included Ann, Jane, Robert,
Mary, Laura and Margaret.
Keith retired in 1983 after a career with
Eastern Airlines that began in 1948.
Keith’s wife Ruth and daughter Mary Hyatt
predeceased him.
Besides Ann and husband Roger Mezger, another
brilliant BJ retirees, who live in Akron, Keith’s survivors include daughters
and sons-in-law Jane and Henri Baile of St. Ismier, France; Laura and Sandy
Olevitch of Minneapolis; and Margaret and Jack Kukura of Columbus; son Robert
of Woodstock, Ga; son-in-law Rob Hyatt of Santa Rosa, Fla.; 12 grandchildren;
four great-grandchildren; and brother Doug of Fallbrook, Calif.
Calling
hours will be 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, at Jenkins Funeral Chapel, 2914
Dover Center Road, Westlake, OH. His funeral Mass of the Resurrection will be
celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at St. Raphael Church, 525 Dover
Center Road, Bay Village, with burial to follow at Lakewood Park Cemetery.
Keith’s obituary:
Keith Malcolm Sheldon, a loving husband,
father, World War II veteran, musician, genealogist and retired sales executive
for Eastern Air Lines, died in Akron, Ohio, on Nov. 11. He was 99.
He was born on Aug. 5, 1924, near Nelson in
rural Douglas County, Minnesota, and in 1936 he moved with his parents Robert
and Emmalyn, younger sister and two younger brothers to a farm in nearby
Alexandria Township.
He played trombone with his high school
band, and after graduation in 1942, he enlisted in the Navy. He then auditioned
for and was accepted as a member of the U.S. Navy Band. Following months of
training at the U.S. Navy School of Music in Washington, D.C., he was assigned
to the newly launched U.S.S. Wasp (CV-18), where he was part of a gun crew and
played in the aircraft carrier’s band.
Aboard the Wasp, he served in the Pacific
Theater of Operations in 1944 and 1945 and survived a direct hit on the carrier
by a Japanese armor- piercing bomb, an attack that killed at least 102 of his
crewmates.
After the war, he played with the Navy Band
in postings on the West Coast and finally in New Orleans, La., where he met
Ruth Elaine Thomas. The couple were married on Oct. 23, 1948, and over the next
20 years had six children — Ann, Jane, Robert, Mary, Laura and Margaret.
Also in 1948, Mr. Sheldon began work as an
Eastern Air Lines ticket agent in New Orleans. Subsequent promotions to
management positions led to transfers to Toledo, New York City, St. Louis and
finally Cleveland, in 1966. He retired from Eastern Air Lines in 1983.
After his transfer to Cleveland, the family
moved to Bay Village, where Mr. Sheldon lived until moving to an apartment at
Ohio Living Rockynol in Akron in 2015.
Throughout most of his life, Mr. Sheldon
pursued his love of music. During his early days in New Orleans, he
occasionally played with jazz ensembles at clubs in the French Quarter. He sang
in and directed church choirs. He played trombone in community bands and
orchestras. He served as president of Bay High School’s Band Boosters.
During the 1970s, Mr. Sheldon developed an
interest in genealogy, tracing his own roots, as well as those of his wife
Ruth. Ancestors he discovered included a Quaker who became a prisoner-of-war
during the American Revolution after the ship he captained was captured by the
British, the 17th century British poet John Dryden, and a knight who rode with
William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066. He
published two books: Sheldons at Bicentennial (in 1979) and John Sheldon of
Providence (in 1984). For a number of years, he served as national president of
the Sheldon Family Association.
Mr. Sheldon was preceded in death by his
wife Ruth and daughter Mary Hyatt. His survivors include daughters and
sons-in-law Ann and Roger Mezger of Akron; Jane and Henri Baile of St. Ismier,
France; Laura and Sandy Olevitch of Minneapolis; and Margaret and Jack Kukura
of Columbus; son Robert of Woodstock, Ga; son-in-law Rob Hyatt of Santa Rosa,
Fla.; twelve grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and brother Doug of
Fallbrook, Calif.
Calling hours for Mr. Sheldon will be 3 to 5
p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, at Jenkins Funeral Chapel, 2914 Dover Center Road,
Westlake, OH. His funeral Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 10:30
a.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at St. Raphael Church, 525 Dover Center Road, Bay
Village, with burial to follow at Lakewood Park Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to
Rockynol Employee Appreciation Fund, Ohio Living Rockynol, 1150 W. Market St.,
Akron, OH 44313. Please write “Rockynol Employee Appreciation Fund” on the
check memo line.
