In Remembrance: Shelden D. Elliott Jr. ’53, ’59PhD Died on July 25 2021

Shelden Douglass Elliott Jr., Yale College Class of ’53 and Yale Graduate School ’59PhD, passed away at the end of July in Texas, where he was staying with his son John and family.  He died peacefully after a brief time in hospice care, with John at his side. 

Shelden and his wife Beverly were longtime residents of the remote Anderson Valley in Mendocino County, northern California, where they had been deeply involved members of the local community since their retirement in the early 1980s.  Together and individually they rebuilt their 100-year-old farmhouse; renewed its original orchard and raised a variety of sheep and goats; volunteered in the fire department, North Coast Energy Services, and Hospice services among other organizations; and founded and supported various spinning and weaving groups.

Previously Shelden had a long career in physics, meteorological research, and solar energy, working at China Lake, the Department of Energy in Oakland, and directing the development of Solar One in Southern California.

Shelden survived Beverly by barely four months, and passed just days before what would have been their 67th anniversary.

—Submitted by the family.