Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met with the Union Congregation, Union County, Illinois, September 27-29,1917.
"The hour having arrived for any who wished to converse with Presbytery with regard to an internal call to the ministry or to
become a member of Presbytery. Bro. Roy Shelton came forward to converse with Presbytery in regard to an internal call to the ministry. On motion Bro. Roy Shelton was received under the care of Illinois Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry."
[2:30 p.m., Friday, September 28, 1917]

[Source: Minutes of Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, September 27-29, 1917, page 6.]

Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met with the Concord Congregation, Johnson County, Illinois, October 1, 1918.
"The Report of the committee on the examination of Bro. Shelton was received and the recommendations concurred in.
Also the discourse was received.
Rev. J. A. Hill officiated in the licentration of Bro. Shelton.
The report was as follows: We would say we have examined Bro. Roy Shelton and find his literary qualifications in the second quarter good.
We would recommend that he be licensed to preach and transferred to the third quarters work.
Respectfully submitted
W. C. Hogue
D. W. Hammack.
[Source: Minutes of Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, October 1, 1918, page 34]

Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met with the Palestine Congregation, Golconda, Pope County, Illinois, September 9, 1919.
"Committee offered it's Report on Examined. Recommending Bro. Roy Shelton to ordination. Report was adopted. The ordination was deferred to the Spring Session Presbytery at 10 o'clock a.m. 1st day.
[Source: Minutes of Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, September 9, 1919, page 48.]

Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met with the Ebenezer Hall Congregation, Anna, Union County, Illinois, April 6-7, 1920.
"Motion & 2nd that Bro. Roy Shelton preach his trial sermon at 10 o'clock a.m. and Rev. D. W. Cheek preach the ordination sermon at 11 o'clock a.m. and Rev. J. A. Hill, to deliver the charge." [April 6, 1920, page 54]
"Wed. 10 o'clock a.m. The hour arrived for the trial sermon of Bro. Roy Shelton. Bro. Shelton read from the 3rd chapter of John. Prayer by Rev. J. A. Hill. Brother Roy Shelton taken his text from the 3rd c. of John & 16 verse.
Motion & 2nd that Bro. Shelton's discourse be received.
The hour arrived for Rev. D. W. Cheek to preach the ordination sermon at 11 o'clock a.m. He read from the 33rd chapter of Ezk. from the 1st verse to the 19th verse. Prayer by Rev. D. W. Cheek. Text from 2nd Cor. 6th c. & 1st verse.
After which J. A. Hill proceeded to the ordination of Bro. Roy Shelton, by prayer and laying on of hands. After which Rev. J. A. Hill delivered the charge." [April 7, 1920, page 56]
[Source: Minutes of Illinois Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, April 6-7, 1920, pages 54, 56]

FUNERAL FOR MRS. SHELTON HELD IN LOUDON; BURIAL AT VIENNA, ILLINOIS

The funeral of Mrs. Roy Shelton, [Mary Seawright Shelton] who was killed instantly in an automobile accident Sept. 21, was held at the Loudon, Tenn., church, where her husband is pastor, and another service was held in Vienna, Ill., where she was buried.

In addition to her husband she is survived by nine children, one of whom is a minister in the church, and three of whom are wives of ministers.

A son, Charles, is pastor at the Oliver Springs, Tenn., church; daughters who are wives of ministers of the denomination are Mrs. John S. Smith, Bowling Green, Ky., Mrs. James Knight, Hendersonville, Tenn., and Mrs. Robert Hull, McKenzie, Tenn. Other children include Mrs. Russell Riepe, Vienna, Ill., Mrs. Wilbert H. Cannon, Nashville, James Roy, in the Army, and Wayne and Robert, students in Maryville (Tenn.) College.

Rev. L. E. McCoy was in charge of the service at Loudon; Methodist ministers Rev. William Cummings and Rev. J.W.A. Kennison, were in charge of the service at Vienna, Ill.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, October 7, 1952, page 3]

MINISTER'S WIFE DIES

Mrs. Fern Huff Shelton [Fern Bailey Huff Shelton], wife of Rev. Roy Shelton, pastor of the Spring Hill church, Altamont, Illinois, died February 12. She had been ill for quite some time.

The funeral was held at the Lincoln (Illinois) church with the pastor, Rev. Truman Sanders, assisted by Dr. William T. Ingram of Memphis Theological Seminary, officiating. In addition to her husband, Mrs. Shelton is survived by two son, Harold Huff and Lewis Huff.

Mrs. Shelton was formerly of Lincoln. She and Rev. Mr. Shelton were married in 1955.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, February 28, 1967, page 4.]

Roy Shelton, 82, died August 31, Vienna, IL. Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Ruby Bynum Burris Shelton, nine children, including minister son Robert M. Shelton, Austin, TX; three daughters who are ministers' wives, June Smith, Winchester, TN; Helen Knight, Bowling Green, KY; Kathryn Hull, Murfreesboro, TN

He had been a school teacher-preacher, and served CP churches in Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, September 15, 1976, page 4.]

In 1912, when a General Baptist minister in a rural community near Marion, Illinois made plans for the annual revival, he had no way of knowing that this event would have a greater impact upon the Cumberland Presbyterian Church than it would upon his own. But that is the way things worked out. For when the new schoolmaster, Roy Shelton, took his students to the day services and met the organist, Mary Seawright, a romance was begun that would have implications for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the years ahead.

The situation developed rather slowly. After all, Roy was only 18 years old, and hadn't attended a day of college. But when both he and Mary turned up on the campus of Southern Illinois Norman University at Carbondale, sometime later, he wasted no time in asking the all-important question, and she just as quickly said yes. So, on his 21st birthday, March 19, 1915, Clarence Roy Shelton and Mary Seawright were united in marriage. To this couple would be born nine children, four boys and five girls. Two of the boys would serve in the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and three of the girls would marry Cumberland Presbyterian ministers. Another of the girls would marry a Methodist minister. However, this is getting ahead of our story. All this lay far in the future and many important things would transpire in the meantime.
Education was the first order of business for the young couple and would remain so for many years to come. Roy was committed to a teaching career, and knew that to fully realize this goal he would need a college education. So he taught school during the fall, winter, and spring, and attended college in the summers. During these early years the school terms were quite short, and he could sometimes attend the spring term at college, also. However, securing a college degree in this manner was a long and drawn out affair. He was still attending college after most of the children were born. For years, as soon as school was out for the summer, he would load the family in a Model T Ford and head for Lebanon, Illinois, where he would attend the summer quarter at McKendree College. Such sacrifice and perseverance finally paid off and in 1935 he was awarded at B.S. degree.
But before this came about, an even more important event had transpired: Roy Shelton had become a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. He had chosen the teaching profession as his field of service, but God had additional plans for him. God looked down upon the Little Egypt section of Illinois and called this young schoolmaster into the gospel ministry. In the year 1920 he was ordained to the Cumberland Presbyterian ministry by the Illinois Presbytery. There were few Cumberland Presbyterian Churches that could afford the full-time services of a minister at this time, and of this small number, none was located in Southern Illinois. Most Cumberland Presbyterian ministers earned a major part of their living in some type of secular employment, such as teaching or farming. So Roy Shelton continued his public school teaching along with his preaching. For many years he followed an established routine; working in the public schools five days a week, in small country churches on weekends, and attending college during the summer months.

Serving four quarter-time churches was not without its advantages for a man holding a full-time school job. It meant that he had to prepare only two sermons each month instead of eight. But this called for some record keeping lest he make the mistake of preaching the same sermon twice at one of the churches. One Sunday morning Roy and Mary and the children drove out to a small church near Golconda, Illinois for the monthly preaching day. Roy began his sermon by announcing his text (a common procedure at this time). He said to the group: "My text for this morning's sermon comes from the fourth chapter of Exodus, the second verse. God is speaking to Moses and asks, ‘What is that in thine hand?'" Roy suddenly noticed that Mary, who was sitting on one of the front pews with the children, had begun making strange facial gestures and signs with her hands. He realized that she was trying to tell him something without attracting the attention of the other worshippers. What was the matter? Had he said something wrong? Did he have egg on his tie? Were his clothes unbuttoned? Suddenly it hit him. She was trying to tell him that he had preached this same sermon on his last trip here. What could he do? It was too late to change. But with only a moment's pause, he continued to speak: "Some of you will remember" he said, "that I used this same text on my last trip here. However, there were some thoughts on this text that I was unable to bring to you then because of the press of time, so I want to share them with you today." And with this word of explanation, he plunged into an extemporaneous sermon. He was equal to the occasion.

For 17 years Roy was principal of the high school in Karnak, Illinois. Then he taught in Anna, Illinois. But one year during the Great Depression, when jobs were few and money was scarce, he got lost in the shuffle and wound up without a school. With a large family to support this was no small thing. So when he finally did secure another teaching job, it was necessary to do some moonlighting to catch up. During one interval he taught school, pastored churches, ran a farm, drove a school bus, and worked in a service station at night. Because this schedule didn't leave much time for sleeping, Mary would often go to the service station with him, so he could sleep between customers.

In 1945 Roy gave up his public school work to give his full time to his ministry in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This road took him to Bethany, Illinois; Loudon, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; Brighton, Tennessee; and finally to Altamont, Illinois. But education was not forgotten. It was always important to both Roy and Mary. It was their dream that all nine of their children should go to college. Eight of the nine did. These eight have all taught school at either the elementary, secondary, or college level.
Music has also occupied a prominent place in the life of the Shelton family. Three of the children are music teachers, and most of the others have sung in college and church choirs and played instruments in high school and college bands and orchestras.
In 1952 tragedy struck the family. Roy and Mary had just returned from an extended vacation trip to the Rockies–a trip they had wanted to make for years. The vacation had also enabled them to visit all of the married children. As they were returning to their home in Loudon, Tennessee to attend a meeting of Knoxville Presbytery, they were involved in an accident in which Mary was killed instantly. But she had lived to see most of her dreams for the family fulfilled.

A few weeks ago, the Shelton family gathered at Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickson county, Tennessee for a family reunion. This family which had begun with two in 1915 had now grown to 48 (39 of the 48 were present, including seven of the nine children). The birthplace of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was a fitting place for such a gathering because the life of this family had been so intertwined with the life of this church.

At 78, Roy Shelton is still active in the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is presently serving as pastor of the Spring Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church near Beecher City, Illinois. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Memphis Theological Seminary. But even now he is not content with just one job. When the little United Presbyterian Church in Altamont, Illinois (where he makes his home) became unable to support a regular pastor, they turned to him for help. So in addition to preaching at Spring Hill every Sunday, he has an early service in Altamont.

The family just hopes that no one asks him to drive a school bus or manage a service station. If they did, he would probably say yes.

Thirty-nine people gathered at the birthplace of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in July, 1972, to pay tribute to the life of this man with a pioneering spirit, and to honor the memory of the woman who stood with him giving wise counsel in time of decision and lending her quiet strength in times of trouble.

It was a day to remember. And it all began at a General Baptist revival in 1912.