Dr. Robert Nelson Shigley

Dr. Robert Nelson Shigley, 85, retired public school administrator, died in his sleep at Summer's Landing Assisted Living in Sandy Springs on May 27, 2010. Bob Shigley was born in 1924 in a pioneer mountain home in Mentone, Alabama, on Lookout Mountain. Son of a minister, he grew up on a mountain farm and in a series of Alabama parsonages during the Great Depression. He left high school before graduation to join the Army Air Corps in World War II. He flew 36 combat missions against Nazi Germany as a B-17 waist gunner based in Italy. After returning from the war he married his high school sweetheart, entered Central Wesleyan College (now Southern Wesleyan University), and earned his B.A. from Furman University in 1950. He taught in high schools at Fort Payne, AL, and Summerville, GA, and was principal of schools at Sand Mountain and Mentone in Alabama, at Menlo, GA, and Chattanooga, TN. He earned his doctorate in education at the University of Alabama and served as assistant school superintendent in Douglas County, GA. From 1966 to 1972, he was a division director of the Georgia Department of Education, where his responsibilities included administration of funding and development of Fernbank Science Center and the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, supervision of Governor's Honors Program, the Georgia School for the Deaf and Georgia School for the Blind, and administration of special education, teacher education and certification. Returning to work with students, he was principal of Douglas County Comprehensive High School from 1972 to 1974, when it was on double sessions and was one of the largest high schools in the state. He then served as director of Pioneer Regional Educational Services Administration, serving a dozen school systems in northeast Georgia. After retiring in Georgia in 1978, he worked a decade with schools in Alaska, where he cultivated close working relationships among Native American and Inuit communities, and served as superintendent of schools in Nome, AK. In retirement he lived in White County and Habersham County, Georgia, until a recent move to assisted living in Sandy Springs. Dr. Shigley is survived by two sons, Kenneth L. Shigley (Atlanta) and Michael T. Shigley (U. S. Navy, Charleston, SC), daughters-in-law Sally Shigley (Atlanta) and Michelle Shigley (Charleston, SC), and three grandchildren, Anne Shigley (Rochester, NY and Atlanta), Kenneth L. Shigley, Jr. (Atlanta) and Rachel Shigley (Charleston, SC), and a large number of nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, Rev. & Mrs. Ernest L. Shigley, Sr., siblings Ernest Jr., Harold, Brownie and Leonard, and son Nicholas Shigley. Following a funeral service at Mentone Community Church, Mentone, Alabama, at 2:00 PM on Sunday, May 30th, interment will be at Bankhead Cemetery in Mentone, AL. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Children's Tumor Foundation, 95 Pine St. 16th Floor, NY NY 10005. Online condolences may be expressed at www.byarsfuneralhome.com. Byars Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Cumming, Georgia will be in charge of the arrangements, 678-455-5815.