Today's Featured Biography

 
John Shelton

I attended UMKC and K-State, Married Dianne Henry (Paseo'62) in 1963 and continued college at Rockhurst while working at a local music store. Daughter, Suellen, was born in 1965.

After divorcing in 1971, I started a rep firm, representing musical instrument manufacturers. I have been married to Priscilla since 1974 and our son, John, was born in 1978.

In 1985 I went to work for Fender Musical Instruments Corp., which had recently been purchased from CBS in a leveraged, employee buy-out. In 1987 I accepted the position of Senior VP, Sales & Marketing and moved to Southern California. Two years later we moved our corporate offices to Scottsdale, AZ where we lived until we moved back to Kansas City in 2007.

At Fender I had the pleasure of working with world-class artists on many projects, some of which were charitable. Enjoying this, when I retired from Fender in 2000, I took a job as Director of Fundraising at a homeless shelter and later as the Executive Director of a substance abuse treatment center for teens and their parents.

While in Arizona, I began playing the organ again after a more than 15-year hiatus. I started playing my Hammond with a team at church in a contemporary (might as well be rock and roll) service. I also ran into some old friends (the Kingsmen of "Louie-Louie"fame) and played with them in Vegas and other venues. What fun! I continue to enjoy playing at home and frequently invite friends from old Kansas City bands over for a "session" in our music room. Other hobbies include working on cars from the 50's and 60's and restoring the home we purchased.

I look forward to seeing and visiting with my classmates at the 50th reunion.

In July of 2012 Priscilla and I moved to The Woodlands, Texas, which is a far-north master-planned suburb of Houston. B.T.W..... I have given away my snow-shovel but still have my Flexible-Flyer sled (just in case).

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