By Gary Lee Stuber
During the monthly Clay County Historic Landmarks Commission meeting on Mar. 7, Vice President and Treasurer Ashleigh Reedy read an email to the members from a granddaughter of a Kentucky inventor and businessman who was raised in Clay County: Winston Laverne Shelton. Winston was born in Lockwood, WV in 1922 to Opal and Naaman Shelton, who moved to Clay. Opal owned the Crossroads Restaurant in the early 1900s, next to her husband’s Esso (Standard Oil) service station. It was there he was exposed to both food service and auto mechanics.
Winston went into the army during World War II and was in the Army’s Specialized Training program where he learned much that would benefit him later. After the war he joined General Electric, and in addition to inventing the modern washing machine, he invented a large pressure fryer for Colonel Sanders of KFC fame. After 20 years at GE, he went into business with his brother in Louisville, KY manufacturing pressure fryers for KFC, as well as other food service equipment.
During that time he commissioned a painting of Clay County harkening back to his youth in the early 1900’s. The staggering 3×7 foot painting of an overview of the town of Clay by Annette Cable hung for years in the company’s lobby, but after his passing in 2019, it doesn’t mean much to the current management. His daughter offered it to the Historical Commission who graciously accepted it during the meeting by unanimous vote of members present.
“I hope,” Commission President Jerry Stover expressed, “to someday hang it in a Clay County historical museum. A nice place to have that museum is in the Old Clay County Courthouse and we are actively trying to possess it.”
During the meeting, the board also took care of routine business, approving minutes from the previous meeting, going over the financials, and the need to update bylaws.
One of the concerns of the organization is the need to get more Clay County residents interested in preserving their own history. The more people involved the better. Citizens can join the Historical Society for only an $18 membership fee and get periodic newsletters of activity. The Commission is willing to take both monetary and historical item donations, but what they really need is time, and people willing to roll up sleeves and get some of the small things done, including helping out with production of newsletters, the website, cataloging items and doing legwork when necessary. For anyone in this county who go back generations here, this should be a labor of love, helping to preserve your past.
If the logistics can be worked out, the commission would love the opportunity to display this amazing painting to the public this year at the Clay County Apple Festival. Meantime, if anyone is interested in more details about the fascinating life of this inventor, reared in Clay, you can actually look him up on Wikipedia: Winston Laverne Shelton.
