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 Timothy M. Sheldon
June 22, 2003
Timothy M. Sheldon, 65, of 46 Bartlett Ave. and Tophill Farm, Devon Road, Lee, died Sunday while undergoing surgery at Berkshire Medical Center.
He had been selected as Pittsfield’s poet laureate in April by the city’s Cultural Council and presented with an plaque by Mayor Sara Hathaway on April 30.
He was planning poetry programs for the Pittsfield schools and for public speaking and reading engagements during his two-year tenure, and had recently presented the mayor with a sheaf of new poems.
Born in New York City on April 15, 1938, son of Kenneth P. and Lorna Lowes Sheldon, he attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and later received his master of fine arts degree from Yale Drama School.
He had been a longtime resident of Lee, and also had lived in Montana, Kansas City, Mo., and Boston, and had spent a summer in Nigeria.
He was a 20-year veteran of the Army Reserve.
Mr. Sheldon was employed at Home Depot and Bousquet Ski Resort in Pittsfield. He was a contributor and editor for Animal Life Magazine.
He frequently read his work to audiences at the WordPlay gatherings at Papyri Books in North Adams and at the Poetry Group in Springside Park in Pittsfield.
His verse play, “Rose Hill,†was broadcast on National Public Radio by WGBH-FM in Boston in 1974 and 1975 in 24 hourly episodes. His most recent drama, “The Poetry Show,†will be presented later this year by the Berkshire Writers Room. One of his poems appears in this week’s issue of Berkshires Week.
While at Haverford, he began a friendship with Peter Rockwell, whose father, Norman Rockwell, used Mr. Sheldon as a model for two of his paintings: the window-washer cover for the Saturday Evening Post of Sept. 17, 1960, and an Army Reserve poster for which, in 1983, Mr. Sheldon was interviewed on ABC’s “Good Morning America.†He was a member of the National Rifle Association, a nature photographer and an author.
He leaves his former wife of 24 years, Rosemary Sheldon of Lee; a stepdaughter, Rochelle O’Gorman of Lee, and a stepson, Mark Caruso of Ponte Vedra, Fla.
FUNERAL NOTICE -- A nonreligious memorial service for Timothy M. Sheldon, 65, who died June 22, 2003, will be held Saturday, June 28, at 2 at FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main St., Great Barrington. Attendees are encouraged to bring a memory or a thought to express and to share.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Berkshire Humane Society. Married for 24 years, Mr. Sheldon leaves his lifelong soulmate, Rosemary Sheldon of Lee. He was more energized by his poet laureate award, acknowledging his own work, than he had been for many years.
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