The Life of the Mind
March 9, 1940 to March 29, 2018
Shelton Engle Chow was born in New York City on March 9, 1940, and moved to Seattle when he was two. Shelton's mother, Ruby Chow (née Mar), was a prominent Seattle businessperson and King County elected official for four decades. His father, Edward Ping Chow, was a Chinese opera star and accomplished chef. Shelton grew up in an ever evolving and exciting atmosphere of progress and possibility.
After Garfield High School (1958), Shelton joined the Navy. Stationed in San Francisco gave him a great affinity to the Bay area, and he returned there many times in his life. It was at this time he was diagnosed with Type I Juvenile Diabetes. After the Navy, Shelton attended Seattle University and earned a degree in English Literature, with a minor in Philosophy and History.
In 1968, Shelton and his young family moved to the Bay area for his first teaching position with San Jose State University. He taught English literature, composition and poetry and created San Jose State's first Black Literature program. In 1970, Shelton embarked on the next adventure, and moved the family to Taipei, Taiwan where he taught English and Composition at Taipei American School.
In 1978, after the US government recognized communist China as the "real" China, the United States withdrew diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and pulled the US military out, drastically altering the American experience living in Asia. Meanwhile, a young American School in Isfahan (Iran) was growing and recruiting, and Shelton accepted the next stop on his journey---right at the beginning of Iran's civil war. By 1979, the Shah of Iran was overthrown, the Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile, and the Americans were evacuated. Shelton and his family lost everything in Iran, but luckily were able to turn to the gracious support of the Chow family in Seattle.
Shelton briefly considered teaching with the American Nicaraguan School, but decided against it (see Contra War). After a short stint with the City of Seattle, he went back to what he does best: teaching. He retired from Seattle Public Schools, always choosing to teach the kids who needed him most---at Colman, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary Schools. Shelton has students all over the world whom he taught to read and write and think. He taught students to think critically and thoughtfully, to believe in themselves and others.
Shelton lived a long and full life with the love and care of his beloved wife, Jeannie. They travelled the world: Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Bali, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Iran, France, Spain, Greece, England, and of course, back to San Francisco. It was a great life. He has three children and three grandchildren. He loved Bob Dylan, music and poetry, the beauty of words, metaphor and analogy. He loved literature, Lawrence, Baldwin, Woolf, Eliot, Salinger and Camus. He was a serious all-brain-and-no-brawn racquetball and pool player; through physics and geometry, he would effortlessly take his opponents down. He also loved football, and always came in the money with his Fantasy Football league. As one would expect from an English teacher, his vocabulary, grammar and writing were immaculate.
Though it is Shelton's wish to not have a memorial service, we hope you will still honor him and a life well lived. Read a book. Raise a toast. Believe in yourself.
"Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the
beach."
(The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 141-143)
P.S. Many of his students are honoring him on the Facebook Taipei American School Classes of the 1970s page. Please check it out.
P.P.S. Yes, it's true. Shelton and Bruce Lee lived together during high school.