KENNETH RAYMOND SHELDEN

Kenneth Raymond Shelden was born on May 23, 1956 in Pittsburg, California to Mae (Culver) and Ray Shelden. The family lived in Shore Acres, California, and welcomed Ken’s sister Sherry the following year. In 1960, the family was rounded out with the addition of his baby sister, Pati. While Ken was in early elementary school, the family moved to Oakley, California where they lived until Ken was sixteen years old.
Ken was always a risk-taker and a dreamer; he and his best friends often ramped bicycles and minibikes, built secret hideaways, and later, took off on adventures across the country. When Ken was twelve, his dad, his role model, died of a heart attack. Because his mother had cancer, he took over the role of caretaker of the family acreage. When his beloved mother passed away when he was sixteen, his life as he knew it was shattered. Ken and his sisters moved to Iowa to live with his mother’s sister, Pattie Foltz, and her husband, Phil Foltz. Phil and Pattie welcomed the three teenagers to their family of five.
Ken graduated from Mt. Ayr Community School in Mt. Ayr, Iowa with the class of 1974. He then went to Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa to complete a carpentry program. In addition to construction, Ken loved to tinker with cars – especially vintage Mustangs – and was a whiz with computers. After working in Iowa for a time, Ken moved back to California where he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1976. He served as an electronics technician and concentrated on sonar. He was stationed on the U.S.S. Cook. After six years, he was honorably discharged.  He then worked in Sunnyvale, California in the early stages of Intel Corporation for several years and was later transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico. After Ken left Intel, he had several different jobs working with a scientist on rocket boosters, working on wind turbines, and spending the last years of his life working in retail in Las Vegas.  In his spare time, Ken enjoyed listening to rock and roll and collected bicycles and computers and repaired them to donate to people who needed them. Ken may have been slight of frame, but his heart was huge. He would give his last dollar to someone in need.
Ken was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Charles and Laura Shelden of Lakeport, California; maternal grandparents Evan and Della Culver of Maloy, Iowa; aunt Pattie Foltz of Mt. Ayr, Iowa; aunt and uncle Ken and Georgette Shelden of Lakeport, California; and other aunts and uncles.
Survivors include his sisters Sherry (Larry) Adams of Mt. Ayr, Iowa and Pati (Clifford) Fried of Piedmont, California; uncle Phil Foltz of Mt. Ayr, aunt Doris Culver of Chicago, Illinois; nieces Shelden Adams of Dallas Texas; Molly Fried of Oakland, California; Tara (Zac) Grandfield of Lorimor, Iowa; and nephews Dustin (Renee)  Adams of Gardner, Illinois and Daniel Fried of Portland, Oregon;  great nieces and nephew, cousins, and friends.
No memorials are established, but family would love to hear your memories of Ken. Contact patifried@aol.com.