Cole Shelton, 75, of Sullivan, passed away at 10:13 a.m. Thursday, February 2, 2023 at St. John’s Hospital, Springfield with his family by his side.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:30 a.m. Monday at the St. Columcille Catholic Church, Sullivan. Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Monday at the Reed Funeral Home. Burial with military rites conducted by the Sesser VFW will be 11:00 a.m. Tuesday in the Union Primitive Baptist Cemetery, Waltonville, Illinois. Memorials are suggested to The St. Mary’s House, 320 N. 21st Street, Mattoon, Illinois 91938. Online condolences may be sent to the family at reedfuneralhome.net.
Cole was born on April 17, 1947 in DuQuoin, Illinois, the son of Frank and Juana (McCutchen) Shelton. He was a U. S. Navy veteran. Cole married Joyce Pelczynski on May 8, 1982 in Sesser, Illinois.
Survivors include his wife Joyce; son Travis (Andrea) Shelton of Edwardsville; granddaughters Kathryn and Madelyn; grandson Andrew; sister Barbara (Jeff) Emil of Tampa, Florida; mother-in-law Rose Pelczynski of Sullivan; sister-in-law Judy (Alan) Middendorf of St. Louis, Missouri and a nephew Ben (Krissi) Emil of Palm City, Florida.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Cole learned his work ethic from his family’s business, Shelton Farm Supply is Sesser, IL. He served his years in the U. S. Navy and then returned home to run the family business until 1994. After that, he pursued his interest in education through teaching Industrial Arts at Herrin High School. They then moved up to Central, IL and Cole continued this at Bethany High School. From there, Cole wrapped up his full time career driving flatbed trucks cross country. Once he had grandkids, he wanted to stay close to home and worked part time at the Ace Hardware store.
Cole would light up whenever he was given the opportunity to talk about cars, racing and his grandkids to anyone that would listen. His McDonald’s breakfast crew understood this all too well, which was a welcome break from the political conversations. Travis, Joyce and Cole spent their favorite years traveling around the country with Travis’ Jr Dragster. Cole was ridiculously proud to switch his racing energies to his son. Most recently, Cole loved getting to watch his grandkids learn their love for speed as they learned how to drive 4 wheelers themselves.
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