La Verne Maria Shelton (later known by her initials “LVM” or “elviem”) was born on May 23, 1945, in Louisville, Ky., to Forest Nathaniel Shelton and Agnes Priscilla Woolridge Shelton and died on February 15, 2025, after a long struggle with cancer. La Verne was one of four children, with a brother 18 years older, Forest Nathaniel Shelton, and a sister 13 years older, Elizabeth “Priscilla” Shelton Walker. A younger sister, Myra Lynette Shelton, died in adolescence. La Verne was married to Klaus Leeb, a mathematics professor, and together they traveled widely, living in Germany, England and Canada from 1968 to 1978). After many years in the Midwest and the Philadelphia area, La Verne returned to central Vermont in 2013, where she had graduated from Goddard College many years before. La Verne, known in Vermont by her initials “LVM” or “elviem,” lived in Montpelier for 11 years, until her illness took to her the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, Vt.
A prominent theme in La Verne’s life was music. Her godmother gave her piano lessons when she was no older than 4, and she sang in the junior church choir. By age 12, she was co-leading a choir of young children, hired to play the piano for monthly Sunday School assemblies, and enrolled at the University of Louisville Preparatory Department, where she was immersed in Bach and music theory. In college and afterward, La Verne’s musical involvement continued. In 1967 she graduated from Goddard College (following a year at New York University) with a double major in math and music, performing a major recital of harpsichord pieces. She continued to play in small ensembles and to sing in choruses throughout her life, most recently the local Vermont Onion River Chorus and the Burlington Choral Society.
Academically, La Verne had a full and remarkable career, earning a PhD in philosophy with a minor in mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 1976. In recognition of this accomplishment, she received the Trailblazer Award from the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers in 2009. She taught philosophy at a variety of institutions including Rutgers, Haverford, College of Charleston and the University of Wisconsin. Following her first bout with cancer, La Verne received a master of science degree in social work with a concentration in mental health in 2002 from the University of Wisconsin and subsequently worked at Yahara House, a community-based program in Madison for people living with mental illness.
Throughout her adult life, La Verne found a spiritual home in Quakerism and continued to be active in Quaker spiritual practice as well as in music and writing poetry and her memoir.
La Verne leaves her niece, Jean Lynn Walker, only child of her sister Elizabeth “Priscilla” Shelton Walker, of White Plains, N.Y.; sister-in-law, Thurlean Shelton; and cousins in Detroit, Mich. She will be missed by her wide circles of friends and Quakers, with whom she shared much spiritual sustenance and joy throughout her life.
A Quaker Memorial Meeting will be held on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2025, 10 a.m., at the Burlington Friends Meeting House. For the full obituary and additional information about the memorial, please go to the A.W. Rich website.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2025.