Ken Shelton is a self-described Army ‘brat’. He went to college at the University of Virginia as a scholarship athlete in football. He then attended UVA medical school on an Army scholarship serving internship and residency in radiology in Honolulu before completing his service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In 1987, he made his way to Hendersonville, along with his wife, Marney, and 3 kids, Mason, Tarah and Houston. They completed their family with their 4th child, Tucker born at Pardee Hospital. He is now retired after serving multiple years as Chair of the Dept of Radiology and then as Chief of Staff at Pardee.

His appreciation for the outdoors came from extensive traveling between duty stations and his Eagle Scout experience. His current interests include all forms of biking, hiking, trail building, woodworking, advocating for greenways, conservation and addiction prevention (particularly tobacco).

Ken loves this community and currently serves on the Henderson County Rail-Trail Advisory Committee (overseeing the construction of the Ecusta Trail), is a county representative on the “Hellbender” Regional Trail Committee (involving 5 counties and a proposed 150 miles of connected bike/ped trails) as well as being an original Board member on the Friends of the Ecusta Trail.

Previously, he served as: a member of the Henderson County Greenway Master Plan Committee; founder of Tobacco Free for Life (keeping kids off tobacco); was an organizing member of the Friends of the Falls (saving the DuPont waterfall corridor from development), and served briefly as a board member of Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy.

His community work has landed him several awards including: the NC Environmentalist(s) of the Year 2001 (shared with many other members of the Friends of the Falls); the Golden Spoke Award 2003 (for local bike advocacy); the Tobacco Control Physician Award from the NC Medical Society 1997; and the Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary Club International) for his work with the New Zealand Olympic Swim team pre-Olympics in Hendersonville, 1996.

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