Warren Noble Sheldon

On Saturday, November 16, 2019, Warren Noble Sheldon passed away peacefully in his home at the age of 96. Warren was born March 12, 1923 in Rush City, Minnesota and later moved with his family to the city of Hutchinson, west of Minneapolis. Besides attending school, he spent his childhood and teen years helping with the family farm, delivering milk, and working fulltime for a local farmer, acquiring the strong work ethic of his generation. He then attended Macalester College for a year and half before being called for active duty in the U.S. Army, where he was selected for the Army Specialized Training Program in medicine. An undergraduate pre-medical education at University of Iowa was followed by medical school at University of Minnesota and an internship at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, where he and his new wife Judy took up residence and in their free time explored the natural beauty of Marin County.

At the outbreak of the Korean War, Warren was sent to Sendai, Japan to serve in an army hospital. Upon return to the U.S. he entered a radiology residency at Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis and then accepted a partner position in a radiology group in Lorain County, Ohio. He and Judy, along with their three children, moved to Oberlin so as to surround the family with this college town’s rich cultural resources: music, theater, art, and literature. During the next few years, they welcomed two more children into their family.

Warren worked 40 years with the radiology group Drs. Russell, Berkebile, and Associates, serving Oberlin and surrounding communities with his radiology expertise. A dedicated professional, he kept current with medical literature and sought out cutting-edge technology to better serve patients. For example, his forward thinking resulted in his group’s acquisition of the newly developed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, the first in Lorain County.

Warren’s greatest loves were family and work, but he also enjoyed travelling in the U.S. and abroad with friends and family, attending concerts and performances in Cleveland and at Oberlin College, playing tennis, bird watching, and exploring nature. He was a strong supporter of numerous organizations devoted to the arts, conservation, and social justice. A lifelong learner up until the day of his stroke, he pored over magazines and Internet articles concerning science and medicine, and read the New York Times each day virtually cover to cover.

Warren is survived by his wife of 70 years, Judy; sons Mark, Doug, and Steve; daughters Ann and Jane; three grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Per his wishes, there will be no services.

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