Sad to report the passing of Mrs Shirley Shelton of Toowoomba. Her funeral will be held on Wednesday 27th April, 2016 at 12.30pm, TS Burstow Chapel 1020 Ruthven Street (South) Toowoomba.
http://burstows.etributes.com.au/etributes/shirley-shelton/tributes/
The 17th April will be a significant day each year in the family of the late Shirley Shelton. It is the day Shirley passed away, plus on 17th April 2006 her husband Neil passed on.
The death of Shirley brings to an end the long association between the Illawarra Cattle Society and the Shelton family. The first known animal registered by Roy Shelton (father of Neil) was born in 1927 and appears in the 1932 Herd Book. The Stud was then known as Applegarth and was in the Monto area. In the late 1940’s the herd was moved to Hivesville (in Murgon area) and became known as the Vuegon Stud. The 1949 Herd Book lists owners as RA & NK Shelton. Neil was 15 or 16 years of age at the time.
From Hivesville the Vuegon Stud became a prominent exhibitor at Brisbane Royal and at North Burnett shows. Neil became a very fine presenter of show cows and the silky skin of Vuegon animals was much admired by all. Some noted cow families were developed with Miss Merle, Rosebud, Gem, Shamrock, Perfect and Calm all being prominent and successful cow families.
The Vuegon stud was dispersed in 1966. Neil did retain a couple of heifer calves, but by this time he was successfully breeding Brafords. In the late 1980’s Neil and Shirley retired to a small hobby farm on the outskirts of Toowoomba and here rekindled their latent passion for Illawarras. In the ensuing years Neil was without doubt showing at more shows than any other stud, exhibiting his small team of five or six at up to 15 shows annually, including Toowoomba and Brisbane. Neil’s last Brisbane Show in 2005 was his greatest win, with Reserve Champion Cow, Vuegon Daisy 3, although she did have many country show interbreed awards to her credit.
Following Neil’s death Shirley retained her interest in the Illawarra breed, becoming a steward in the Illawarra judging at Toowoomba and in more recent years at Brisbane Royal. Her recording of the placings was impeccably done. Probably no other steward could match her neatness and correctness of data recording.
Shirley, it was always a pleasure to work alongside you in the steward’s tent. You will be sadly missed.
Lloyd Peters
