Arthur Holt Shelton II

On October 19, 1949, Arthur was born to Kenneth Rex Shelton, a farm boy from Hollis, Oklahoma, and Frances Lorna Shelton (née Moore), a Galveston debutante and Mardi Gras Queen. He was redheaded, left handed, and an unstoppable force of nature – a true exemplar of the eccentric Texan archetype once common before the influx of Californians and Yankees. His upbringing and family life in Galveston during the 1950s bore uncanny parallels to the sitcom Arrested Development, but set in the unique cultural milieu of the Texas Gulf Coast and last hurrah of the Old South.

Arthur was a man of many sobriquets: “Four Day Shelton” bestowed by teachers exasperated by his truancy and high marks; “Champagne Arthur” for bringing cases of bubbly to 1129 Jackson Avenue in New Orleans at Mardi Gras; “King of the Labradors” counting Tibby, Old Lady, Jack, Harris, Sharky, Blue, Trooper, and Maggie amongst his devoted vassals; “Cap’n Art” to true friends; and simply “Artie” to his loving wife Mimi.

His youth was full of hijinks and merry pranks which would now probably be considered crimes– shooting his English yew longbow through the neighbors’ window, playing Cowboys and Indians with pellet guns and no mercy, making pistols out of pipes loaded with marbles and black powder from fireworks, tossing dead crabs in the gutters and engine blocks of local curmudgeons. There may even be a Galveston P.D. mugshot of him as a teenager in coat and tie. He reluctantly attended Ball High School, much preferring to stay home reading books he actually liked. He graduated in 1967, and enraged his parents by not attending the graduation ceremony through the simple artifice of not turning in his cap and gown order form.

The man was a legendary storyteller and prone to exaggeration. But his tales always contained more than a few alcohol soaked kernels of truth. He was known for driving his 1967 red Chevy SS 396 convertible down the Boulevard in Galveston with a cat draped around his shoulder and also drag racing it at night. As a child he inexplicably impaled himself on a power pole in his back yard, hanging until an angel lifted him off with his aorta millimeters away from rupture. While on a Galveston Bay boating trip with friends, drinking rum like pirates, Arthur ended up keel hauled, dancing with the propeller blades and needing hundreds of stitches to his face, head and arms. Days later he went to a James Brown concert with his head swaddled up in a turban of gauze bandages decorated with peacock feathers and made it up on stage to sing with the band. For the rest of his time in high school, he would tell the school nurse that he had a headache and she would send him straight home.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin for a semester and once threw beer bottles at President LBJ’s motorcade during the Vietnam War, before the Secret Service was quite so serious. Realizing, with surprising maturity, that he needed to transfer before flunking out, he joined his sister Sissy at the University of Denver where he earned a B.A. degree in Sociology in 1971. While in Colorado, he swore that he was abducted by aliens in a UFO and lost a day of his life, returning in time to make an A on a final exam. There may have been some potent psychedelics involved. A halfhearted hippy, he thought it sporting to get under his U.S. Army Air Corps veteran father’s skin by growing shoulder length hair, driving a Japanese car and speaking in a faux French accent.

He fell in love with Mimi Claire Hastings over the course of several trips together to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Their courtship in Houston was fun and involved picnics, gorilla suits, Sonia roses, and dates at Ninfa’s. His mother in law, Lucie, extracted a promise that he would wear shoes during the ceremony because he was well known for wearing flip flops everywhere. Ever the gentleman, he kept his word but discarded them as soon as the service was over. He often said that marrying Mimi was the best thing he ever did.

After marriage he continued academic pursuits and love of learning with more dedication, earning an Accounting degree from the University of Houston in 1980 and a MBA from the University of Texas in 1984. Unfortunately his health could not keep up with his joie de vivre and let him down as he sought professional opportunities. He suffered from ulcerated colitis and endured dozens of surgeries with the sangfroid of a Light Brigade lancer at Balaclava. His illnesses became a defining characteristic of his middle age. But he chose to look on the bright side of life, counting himself fortunate to spend more time raising his children than most men. Even though he was often ill, and in and out of the hospital, he made time to help the less fortunate. He was proud to have served as a board member of the Austin Child Guidance Center and volunteered delivering meals for Meals on Wheels of Central Texas for years.

Never idle, he pursued his hobbies and passions which included collecting thousands of rare books, fine European double barreled shotguns, coins, pocket watches, antiques, swords, and militaria. His curio cabinets of oddities would have made even the most well-traveled English noblemen green with envy. He loved wing shooting and cherished time spent duck and dove hunting with his son and friends.

A believer in the persuasive power of the venerable pump action shotgun, he used it to great effect on overzealous cops, assaulters of women, petty burglars, and a trespassing Mardi Gras urinator. When the latter of these miscreants threatened to return exclaiming “I know where you live!” Arthur, always ready with a witty retort, quipped, “Come back anytime, my shotgun lives here too.” He was fond of the adage “an armed society is a polite society.”

He counted Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Toad of Toad Hall in The Wind in The Willows, and Jesus Christ as his personal heroes. And he considered the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution to be divinely inspired texts, and was a proud American. In his later years, he became a serious scholar of the Bible signing up for correspondence courses and devoting time to various radio programs and self-study.

Arthur treated life as a gift to be lived to the fullest. He was always instigating a good time – hosting costume parties, playing cards and games, watching movies, especially comedies, for a good laugh. He sought out fun, artistic, quirky, and intelligent people worthy of spending his time with and kept them in his orbit. He was a modern day Peter Pan, refusing to grow up in the conventional sense. He always sat at the kids table at Thanksgiving by choice. Enabling children to have fun and share in their innocent joy was one of his favorite pastimes.

He also tended to see the world through an ironic lens, bothered by pomposity, hypocrisy, authority, and silly “rules.” He did not suffer fools gladly and had no tolerance for superior attitudes. He carried a lifelong chip on his shoulder in this regard and woe betide any petty tyrant of middling intelligence with the temerity to attempt to knock it off. He simply could not be made to do anything he did not want to do. He was a free spirit and lived like a free man.

Arthur was preceded in death by his parents Kenneth Rex Shelton Sr. and Frances Moore Shelton; sister Frances “Sissy” Knox Shelton-Howell, and beloved extended family Isabelle Singleton, Vera Robinson, Andrew Bess, and Ruby Narcisse. He is survived by his devoted wife of 49 years, Mimi Claire Hastings Shelton; son Patrick Byrne Shelton and grandsons George Moore Shelton and Frederick Knox Shelton; daughter Reverend Madeline Clelie Shelton Hawley, son in-law Reverend Christian Nicholas Hawley, granddaughter Valerie Clelie Hawley and grandson Frank Giuseppe Hawley; Brothers Kenneth Rex Shelton Jr. and Andrew Malcolm Shelton; nephews Donny Howell, Casey Howell, Charles Shelton, William Shelton, Thomas Shelton, and nieces Francie Howell Buergler, Cathy Shelton Pickavance and Mallory Shelton McClarty..

In lieu of flowers, or tears, buy yourself a bottle of champagne and have a party with good friends in Arthur’s honor. A celebration of his life will be held on October 3, 2026 at the Seminary of the Southwest at 2 p.m. Hawaiian shirts are encouraged.