Shirley Welton

Shirley Buck Welton, mother, musician, poet and writer died on July 3, at the age of one hundred years and seven months at her home in Cleveland Heights. Only a few months ago, Shirley delighted audiences at the Art and Medicine Institute of the Cleveland Clinic and at the Hospice House of the Western Reserve with readings of her poetry. Shirley radiated joy. As she said in her notes on Earth Day 1993, referring to a discussion with a friend, "I know my limitations and shortcomings, I told her about my life and realized how lucky I am and what a life I have had. I can hardly contain my joy these days."
Shirley was a graduate of Mount Union College in Alliance with a BM in Violin Performance. She also received a BA in English and an MA in German from Ohio State. Her life was full of adventures. In her youth she studied at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule (Conservatory of Music) and following Hitler's rise to power she moved to Paris to study French. Her travels at the time took her to the Mediterranean and North Africa. After her marriage to Allan Judd Welton she lived in the American West and in Mexico. She worked as a teacher and as a social worker, was a member of the Albuquerque and Phoenix Symphony Orchestras and in the early days of radio gave live piano performances. After the death of her husband in 1959, she returned to her ancestral home in Alliance, Ohio to be with her parents. Following the death of her father in 1971, Shirley began working on a book "Thoughts from Another World, Communications" which was published in 2004. A year earlier, she had moved to Cleveland Heights to be closer to her daughter Xirlita and her son-in-law. In recent years, she enjoyed the love and support of her extended family, four generations all living on the same street in Cleveland Heights.
Shirley Buck Welton is survived by her daughter Xirlita Pitsch, son-in-law Hans Pitsch, her grandson Raphael Oliveira of Alliance, granddaughter Erica Antolik and husband Mark of Cleveland Heights, granddaughter Rachel Merz and husband Peter of Ichenhausen, Germany and five great grandchildren.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at First Christian Church in Alliance, Ohio with Pastor Pam Bruno officiating. Friends may call from 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the church. Interment will be at Alliance City Cemetery. Arrangements are by Cassaday-Turkle-Christian Funeral Home, 75 S. Union Ave. Alliance, Ohio 44601. Friends may register online at: www.ctcfuneral.com.