Posted 9:21 pm Sunday, October 25, 2009
Providing Senior Care Is More Than A Career
With the exception of a foray into land investment, Christian ministry and providing care and housing for seniors has been at the center of Charles Shelton's career.
Today, he serves as executive director of the fledgling Meadow Lake senior-living community in Tyler. It's under the umbrella of the Sears Methodist Retirement System.
When finished late next year, Meadow Lake will be a $64 million gated retirement community for adults 55 and older. Groundbreaking is set for November.
The 92-acre development is off County Road 165 near the intersection of Loop 49 and Old Jacksonville Highway.
About 250 people will be able to live there, with 57 single-family homes, 80 garden-apartment homes, 54 assisted-living apartments and a 30-bed facility for those who need more specialized care, such as Alzheimer's patients.
Shelton has been Meadow Lake's executive director since March 2007.
He was born and raised in Memphis and attended David Lipscomb University. He graduated in 1958 from the University of Memphis with a bachelor's of science degree in English literature.
"A real practical degree," Shelton joked.
He went on to attend Harding University Graduate School of Religion.
He went on to attend Harding University Graduate School of Religion.
"I wanted to be in the ministry," Shelton said. "That was my first career."
After graduation, he spent the next 15 years as a Church of Christ minister, working in St. Louis and San Jose before joining a Houston-based nationwide campus ministry.
Shelton also spent six weeks in 1966 doing missionary work in Asia.
"It went really well, especially well in Korea," he said. "It was received well in Japan."
Things were a bit different in Saigon, Vietnam, where he spent two weeks as war raged all around.
"I saw flares and heard bombs and mortars all night long," Shelton said. "The whole perimeter of the city was illuminated with flares all night long to keep the Viet Cong from slipping in."
He had planned to stay three weeks but was informed that the airport would be closing.
"They told me that if I wanted to get out of town, I better pack my bags and go to the airport," Shelton said.
In 1970, he decided a career change was in order, so he went into the land-investment business in Houston, which was one of the few job options he had.
"I found out that there's not much of a market for 35-year-old ex-preachers," Shelton said. "I had a friend in the (land investment) business, and he put me in and was my mentor and helped me get started."
He spent the next 15 years in that industry.
His step into retirement housing came in 1985, when he was hired in Dallas as president of the Christian Care Center, which provides services and housing for special-needs seniors throughout the Metroplex.
His step into retirement housing came in 1985, when he was hired in Dallas as president of the Christian Care Center, which provides services and housing for special-needs seniors throughout the Metroplex.
In 1990, he moved to Milwaukee, where he took a job as president of Friendship Living Centers, which oversees retirement-community operations.
Six years later, he joined Sears Methodist Retirement Systems.
He briefly spent time with the company's flagship operation in Amarillo before jumping aboard the Tyler project.
"All of my children and grandchildren are in the Metroplex," he said. "This is a heck of a lot closer than Amarillo."
Shelton said the best part of his work is helping seniors make sound decisions about where they likely will live out their lives.
"The most challenging is providing nursing care, dealing with people who are in sharp decline in their lives and dealing with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and all the catastrophic illnesses that beset elderly people," he said.
He met his wife, Patricia, during his days at Lipscomb University. He was a sophomore, and she was a freshman.
"I picked her out of the cafeteria line," he said. "I said, 'That's the girl I want to meet.'"
Today, Shelton, 75, has four grown children and 11 grandchildren. He and his wife often spend their weekends visiting them in the Dallas area.
Shelton said he sees Meadow Lake as just the beginning of what is in store in the Tyler area, which is an attractive retirement spot, particular for Dallas residents looking to get out of the big city.
"I think Tyler is perfectly set up," he said. "The cost of living is low here. The community is very progressive and business friendly. The climate is very good.
"I see Tyler developing more of the traditional retirement communities. You're two hours from Dallas, so it's not like you're moving across the country and leaving your kids behind."
Subjects for this column come from business cards randomly drawn from a briefcase on Business Editor Brian Pearson's desk. Send cards to him at P.O. Box 2030, Tyler, Texas, 75710.
