John Shelby

John Benjamin Shelby
November 3, 1977 - December 28, 2022

"Don't you see that children are God's best gift?" Psalm 127.3
John Benjamin Shelby, a native of Mobile, Alabama, died Wednesday, December 28, 2022.

A steadfast friend and devoted father, son, and brother, Ben was born on November 3, 1977 to Franck and Glenda Shelby in Mobile, Alabama. Ben was baptized into Christ at Dauphin Way Baptist Church. After John S. Shaw High School, Ben completed his certification in A/C & Refrigeration Technology at Bishop State Community College. Adept and intuitive, Ben's employers in property maintenance, construction, and surveying were delighted when he was working for them. His talents and abilities were proven in every install, repair, refurbishment, or construction project he was recruited to perform. Ben's delight in growing up on Mobile Bay and the Gulf Coast was famously well known and most obvious personally when he taught whoever would let him how to throw a cast net.

Ben's daughter Grace Marie grew up in the loving gaze of her father. He beheld her with wide-eyed amazement and great affections. He enjoyed exploring and fishing with her more than anything in the world.

Ben is preceded in death by his father, Franck Allen Shelby.

Ben leaves behind a wealth of friends and family and his faithful dog Chewy who will miss him dearly.

Ben is survived by his daughter Grace Marie Shelby and her mother Veronica Lee Martin; his mother Glenda Blankenship Shelby; his brother Franck Stuart Shelby and his wife Crissy, and their children, Lucy, Sam, Mac, and Jane.

Services will be held at Mobile Memorial Gardens Cemetery on Tuesday, January 3 with Family Visitation at 9:30 am and a graveside committal at 10:00 a.m.

Ben loved the Bay, and he loved being with many of us on the Bay. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to Mobile Baykeeper at mobilebaykeeper.networkforgood.com or to Eastern Shore Recovery Foundation (Common Ground) at 8162 Well Road, P.O. Box 1796, Daphne, Alabama 36526.

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with fore thought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1.3