ANN SHELDON MEZGER'S FATHER PASSES AWAY AFTER A REMARKABLE LIFE.

 

                     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

           ANN NEXT TO HER FATHER (RED CLOTHING) AT 2015 HUGE FAMILY GATHERING FOR CHRISTMAS

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.