Hugh Shackelford   (American History - Arthur Hill High School)
1919 - 2006

Hugh Shackelford was born and raised in the small Missouri town of Warrensburg. He passed away on February 27, 2006, at the age of 87. Hugh attended Central Missouri State Teacher's College, obtaining a B.A. in History. His father died when he was 18. He received his Master’s in Education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. He taught briefly at a school in Missouri, and played clarinet in a jazz band on weekends until he entered the military during World War Two. While in training in Cheyenne, Wyoming, he met a young librarian named Carol; when he left for Europe, they corresponded regularly (she still reads his letters every day).  He was a lieutenant serving over all black troops in a graves registration unit, and it made him a liberal (not the norm in his Southern Missouri family). He served in five campaigns. A young German prisoner of war assigned to him corresponded for many years, and visited him in 1995.

Upon his return in 1945, he and Carol married and he began teaching at the Kemper Military Academy in Boonville, Missouri. One of his students was Hugh O'Brian (later TV's Wyatt Earp). He resumed playing in a jazz band on weekends. They had a son, then he was offered a job in Saginaw, Michigan, and began teaching and coaching basketball at Arthur Hill High School. Another son soon followed. Summers were spent visiting relatives in Missouri and Colorado, and Hugh earned extra money doing construction for the Denver Public Schools. Later, he taught typing and bookkeeping in summer school. He served on the board of the Team One Credit Union, and as business manager of athletics at Arthur Hill. He also enjoyed fishing in the mountain streams, as he did in the lakes and rivers of Michigan. He also enjoyed a good round of golf, and a good game of ping pong. In addition to teaching, he spent a brief time (too long for his liking) as Attendance Officer. 

He loved teaching history, and was always looking for ways to enrich his classes.  He passed on this love of history to his son Martin, and his younger son Alan also eventually developed an interest as well. Hugh retired in 1980, and enjoyed his retirement years. Late in life, he experienced increasingly serious illnesses, and made plans to move to Madison, Wisconsin to be closer to his grandson. A week before the planned move, house already sold, he came down with pneumonia, and passed away on February 27, 2006, at the age of 87, after 60 years of marriage. His wife now resides in Madison, as do his two sons.