Shelley M. Fields

Date published: 6/9/2009

Shelley M. Fields

Shelley Mae Fields, 75, a teacher in the Prince George's County schools, died Saturday, May 23, 2009, at her home in Fredericksburg of a rare blood disease.

In the 1990s, she worked for Potomac Job Corps as a teacher of typing and English, and subsequently for the Spotsylvania County public schools as a teacher of special education. She received her E.D.D. degree in 2003.

Dr. Fields was a native of Lakeland, Fla.; the daughter of Lena Colon and Richard Fields, and was of mixed African-American, Irish and Apache ancestry. Following high school, she attended the New York Business School on Long Island, only to discover that her segregated early education had provided insufficient preparation. Returning to Florida, she attended Nassau Community College while working for Minority Workers Builders. She graduated from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, with a management major in 1979, later completing more than 200 hours of graduate-level courses.

A Lutheran since her early 20s, Dr. Fields was active in churches in New York, Fort Lauderdale, Oxon Hill, Md., and, more recently, at Resurrection Lutheran in Fredericksburg. Prominent as a lay leader in the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, she served as team leader of the Synod's African-American Outreach Team from 2002 until the time of her death.

Survivors include four children: Calvin of Fredericksburg, Glenda of Seattle, Michael of Fort Lauderdale and Gregory of Wilmington, Del.; 21 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; a sister, Patricia Nathaniel of Forestville, Md.; and a brother, Roosevelt James of Pennsville, N.J. She was predeceased by her brother Frank James.

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, June 12, at Resurrection Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the church's endowment fund at 6170 Plank Road, Fredericksburg, Va. 22407.

Date published: 6/9/2009