Velton Delhart Tidwell

Born to Andrew Jackson Tidwell and Eva Viola Nation in Altus, Okla., on July 19, 1931, Velton Delhart Tidwell was five years old when the Dust Bowl forced his family to migrate to California. Velton, often called "Boy" due to being the only son among daughters, grew up accompanying his grandfather to work in fields and orchards during the Great Depression. Shaped by the need to survive and provide for his family even as a young boy, and surrounded as he was by a strong culture of work, Velton's lifelong ethic of upholding responsibility and securing his family started here.

After graduating from King City High School, Velton served in the Korean War as a radarman on a U.S. Navy destroyer. When he returned home to Greenfield, the rest of his life began. He married Marjorie Wilkinson on April 30, 1955. Together, they raised four children, Michael, Greg, Sharon, and Laura; built a prosperous life, and traveled the world.

Initially working as a butcher in the local grocery store, Velton's integrity and work ethic caught the notice of Henry Doyle, a local businessman, who took him under his wing and eventually invited Velton to partner in his real estate and insurance business. The story goes that Velton made his decision by opening up the phone book, noting the addresses of local realtors, and driving by their houses to see what sort of life they could provide their families. Satisfied by what he saw, he worked in business serving his community in the Salinas Valley for the next 30 years. Anyone can attest to Velton's honor, fairness, and the strength of his word.

Velton valued family, punctuality, completeness, consistency, and hard work. "Hard work covers up a lot of mistakes," he would say. Every Sunday he united the clan at the family cabin for games and sharing meals, at one table, under one roof. Quick with an adage or joke, shrewd as a pair of aces, always prepared to help without asking for gratitude, he led his family with courage and independence. No hardship could out-stubborn him. Life ran on a clockwork routine dinner at six! that was legendary for Velton's unyielding insistence that time bend to his world, and not the other way around. These were all ways he established order for his family, creating a place of certainty and stability, the kind his childhood hadn't been able to offer him. Even as his health changed in his final years, the central motivation to protect his own and help others continued to reveal itself as his source of purpose and meaning in life, the restless engine that would animate him nearly to the day he passed.

Velton Delhart Tidwell died 90 years old, a husband, great-grandfather, leader of his family and a good man, on the morning of May 16, 2022 in Boerne, Texas. He was preceded in death by his sister, Peggy; son-in-law Kirk; and daughter Laura. He is remembered by Marjorie, his wife of 67 years; sisters, Jackie, Beth and Debbie; children, Michael (Lori), Greg (Elvira), and Sharon; grandchildren, Clayton, Avery (Kenny), Dellene (Shawn), Sam, and Taylor; and great-grandchild Eldon.

May he rest beneath the sycamores.

Published in King City Rustler and Salinas Valley Tribune · May 24, 2022