Carroll Shelby - Wife vs. Kids in WAR Over Auto Legend's Body

[08KR525]

Amen, stpracer43. I couldn't have said it any better.

 

 

 

[jrzycobra]

I for one am interested and would like to know the final outcome of all this. Please keep updating.

[ilmor]

I for one am interested and would like to know the final outcome of all this. Please keep updating.

 

 

Me too; there's nothing wrong with respectful dialogue and trading of information regarding this issue.

[Inactive Account 1]

I have a great respect for privacy and confidentiality. I have a greater respect for Carroll Shelby.

 

He deserves the dignity of a prompt burial regardless of how he lived his life.

 

He has given much of what he has earned from his life long automotive dreams to a Children's Foundation, so that other's can benefit.

 

Do I care about the legal claims or arguments? Not really, but I do care to know when and where he will be laid to rest in peace.

 

His is a legend and hero in my life for all he has done to bring so many happiness.

 

I have a huge Team Shelby family and memories of a lifetime, because with his staff, he brought us all together.

 

I guess for now, we can all agree to disagree about what's right or wrong, but I think we all agree that Carrol Shelby's legacy will live on forever.

[Frank S]

What about the view that Carroll Shelby's physical remains and their disposition are infinitely less important than the immense volumes of respect, regard, and affection that have been expressed in our words to each other in person, here in these forums, and at gatherings around the world, after and before his passing?

 

From my point of view it is a matter of mild interest where his body is buried and who determines the location and circumstances. I'm puzzled that there should be a conflict over the "right" to decide such a mundane matter, when no one seemed to contest the "right" to praise and admire him and his works.

 

If it's a matter of principle among the family members, I understand that. A family's got to do what a family has got to do. What I don't understand is why that conflict has anything to do with Carroll Shelby the Man and the Legend.

[Joe G]

[BluFury]

 

This little guy seems to be a popular star around here lol

[Grabber]

Family Feud Leaves Racer Carroll Shelby’s Body in Dallas Morgue for Weeks

 

posted by Alex Ferreras on July 2, 2012 in Latest Financial News

(Source: Terry Box The Dallas Morning News — Twists and hairpin turns defined Carroll Shelby’s remarkable life — on and off the track.

But even the savvy, well-traveled Shelby, a legendary Texas racer and creator of the iconic Cobra sports car, could not have foreseen the strange events that followed his death in Dallas on May 10, at age 89.

His body remains in the Dallas County morgue because of a bitter legal dispute between his wife, Cleo, and his three children, who live in the Dallas area. Essentially, Shelby’s remains are at the center of a caustic custody battle.

“Cleo knew exactly what he wanted,” said son Pat Shelby, 64, chairman and majority owner of Legacy Texas Bank in Plano.

The family says Shelby gave his oldest son, Mike, a medical directive instructing him to cremate him and bury a portion of his ashes at the family’s plot outside of Leesburg in East Texas, where Shelby grew up.

But Cleo Shelby told InsideLine.com that Shelby told her he wanted to be “buried,” which she interprets differently than his directive to Mike Shelby.

“The children said he wants to be cremated, but Carroll told me he wanted to be buried,” she told InsideLine.com.

Shelby’s sons scoff at that claim.

“She knows we had four witnesses to his signature” on the directive, said Mike Shelby, 65, who is in the oil and gas business and has timber and real estate interests in Texas. “We also had a notary, Dad’s lawyer and his business partner — seven total people watched him sign that document.”

In a statement Friday, Cleo Shelby said she shares “the loss that all his family feels on his passing.”

“I am quite troubled by the fact that my beloved husband’s body still has not been released from the Dallas County morgue,” she said. “My attorney made every effort to move the case to mediation, a process that would expedite the resolution of the dispute. I regret that this disagreement with some members of Carroll’s family has become a public matter, and I look forward to both sides reconciling in the future.”

Her attorney, Richard Tubb of Dallas, did not return calls.

Shortly after Shelby’s death, Mike Shelby filed the medical directive calling for cremation with Dallas County. The county found that it was durable and could go forward, Mike Shelby said.

But Cleo Shelby then filed an exception, contending in court documents cited by the Los Angeles Times that she had the right as his wife to decide what would happen to his body. She also maintains that Shelby signed a document in 2010 giving her that responsibility.

A hearing on the case is scheduled for July 26.

And although Carroll Shelby hasn’t been buried or cremated, about 1,200 people — many of them family and close friends — attended a private memorial service May 30 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Cleo Shelby was invited and attended.

Pat Shelby said he views the litigation as the likely precursor of a battle over Shelby’s estate.

“She [Cleo Shelby] wants control,” he said. “But it won’t be our battle.”

Carroll Shelby told his adult children — Mike, Pat and Sharon — that he planned to leave the majority of his estate to the Carroll Shelby Foundation, which he formed after his heart transplant in 1991. He set aside an undisclosed marital trust for Cleo, Mike Shelby said.

The litigation should not affect Shelby’s main companies: Carroll Shelby International Inc., Shelby American and the foundation.

“Just as Apple, Ferrari and Porsche planned for the eventual death of their founders, Mr. Shelby structured CSI and the Carroll Shelby Foundation to endure after he was gone,” the company said in a statement.

Among other activities, the foundation provides assistance to seriously ill children and funds continuing education programs such as the Carroll Shelby School of Automotive Technology at Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant.

Shelby’s estate includes a number of cars stored at a facility in Gardena, Calif., including the first Cobra Shelby built in the early 1960s — the legendary CSX2000.

“By leaving his estate to the foundation, Dad put us above the fray, and we’re fine with that,” Mike Shelby said.

Carroll Shelby was very much the tall Texan — part truth, part myth and part legend. For example, many of his closest friends say even they aren’t sure how many times the gregarious Shelby was married.

His interests ranged from brutally fast automobiles and classic aircraft to African cattle, miniature horses and even alternative powertrains. He founded dozens of businesses, some that succeeded and some that didn’t.

“He was a different individual, a very complex guy,” Dallas automotive artist Bill Neale said of his friend and occasional business partner of 60 years.

In fall 2010, Shelby filed for divorce from Cleo — his seventh wife, according to some records — and moved out of the house they shared in Bel Air, an upscale neighborhood in Los Angeles, Pat Shelby said.

The divorce filing and a second one in February 2011 were both filed in Camp County, in East Texas, where Shelby was born and where he maintained a farm in Pittsburg, his sons said. But no official papers were ever served.

“Dad wanted to wait until his health got better,” Pat Shelby said.

“Dad also understood that if the divorce went forward, his Mustang program [at Shelby American] would come to a halt,” Mike Shelby said.

Later, though, when a seriously ill Shelby entered UCLA Medical Center, he sought an annulment and papers were served, Mike Shelby said.

“What the annulment would do is keep Cleo at bay so his businesses could continue to operate while the case was being heard,” he said. “It just didn’t proceed quickly enough to help him.”

For a few months after the first divorce filing, Shelby lived in a small apartment above Shelby American in Las Vegas. But he returned to the house in Bel Air, saying he missed his old friends at the country club there, Pat Shelby said.

Although the couple tried to resolve their differences, the relationship continued to deteriorate, friends said.

Cleo Shelby said the couple were never estranged: “Carroll and I were not estranged, and our friends and staff can verify that.”

Shelby fell ill last winter with major respiratory problems. Even before that, his health was tenuous. After heart and kidney transplants complicated by numerous other ailments, Shelby needed to take at least 30 pills a day.

In April, after months at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, he asked his sons to move him to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, the family says.

Cleo Shelby alleges in court documents that Pat and Mike “secretly spirited” Shelby out of Los Angeles.

“We CareFlited him to Dallas,” Pat Shelby said. “We wanted to keep her away from him. He just said, ‘She aggravates me.’”

Shelby also asked twice — once at the UCLA Medical Center and again at Baylor — that he be given an autopsy after he died, Mike Shelby said.

Pat Shelby said he didn’t know exactly why his father wanted the autopsy. But Shelby told several acquaintances before his death that he thought someone was tampering with his medication — a suspicion his sons mostly dismiss.

“I can tell you I think all they’ll find is his regular medication and all the stuff he got while he was in the hospital,” Mike Shelby said. “But that’s what he wanted.”

Steven Kurtz, chief medical legal death investigator for Dallas County, says the county will maintain control of Shelby’s body until the legal dispute is resolved.

The autopsy was performed on May 11, and the results are still pending, which is typical when toxicology and histology tests are involved.

In the meantime, Shelby American continues to sell the last super-car Shelby conceived, the Shelby 1000, a $210,000 Mustang that can hit 200 mph.

Shelby American, which employs about 125 people at its 200,000-square-foot facility in Las Vegas and produces seven to 10 vehicles a week, has plans for new vehicles extending through 2020.

“The fact is, he put together a team to get things done when he was gone,” said John Luft, president of the company.

The family, weary of the publicity and the lack of closure, hopes for a reasonably quick resolution but realizes that it may take months.

“Mainly, you’re just incredulous at first,” Pat Shelby said. “You can’t believe it. You start your mourning when you have closure, and it’s almost like he’s not dead.”

———

©2012 The Dallas Morning News

[jerseygator]

They need to just do something... This is horrible news to hear he has not been placed to rest!

[NordicShelby]

I have lost all respet for Cleo after reading this.

 

Sounds like she may be the Gold digger type.

[MMcGuirk]

Let us all pray for speedy resolution to this travesty!

[Grabber]

They need to just do something... This is horrible news to hear he has not been placed to rest!

 

 

Thursday July 26th is the court hearing. I hope the judge resolves it at that time.

[08KR525]

I find it a little troubling when Cleo was quoted in the article as saying that she "shares the loss that all of his family feels at his passing." If all was well as she said and Carroll and her had been married for some time, then would it be unreasonable for her to consider Carroll's family her's too. I hope this is resolved in an equitable manner persuant to Carroll's wishes soon.

[07SGT]

This is the most detailed account I have read to date. Thank you for posting. I think many of us have formed opinions but it is probably best to keep the opinions to ourselves at this time. But this account only reinforced my original thoughts.

 

Thanks Grabber.

[Grabber]

This is the most detailed account I have read to date. Thank you for posting. I think many of us have formed opinions but it is probably best to keep the opinions to ourselves at this time. But this account only reinforced my original thoughts.

 

Thanks Grabber.

 

Yes, it looks like The Dallas Morning News did there homework.

[07SGT]

If there were seven witnesses, including an attorney, then it appears that CS, and probably his children, did their homework also.

[07SGT]

I would think the reason for "spiriting" him away on a medical flight was to have the case moved to TX rather than CA. And it would be easier to arrange for burial of ashes in TX and to distribute ashes to his children in TX.

[The Chairman]

APNewsBreak: Shelby to be buried as dispute ends

NOMAAN MERCHANT -  Today

The celebrated car designer's children and wife have resolved a dispute over how to bury him, two and a half months after his death. (AP Photo/K.M. Cannon, File)

DALLAS (AP) - Celebrated auto designer and race car driver Carroll Shelby will finally be buried, more than two months after his death, thanks to a settlement between his three children and wife, both sides told The Associated Press on Monday.

 

Shelby's body has been held in a Dallas morgue since his May 10 death. His children said their father signed a directive this year to have his remains cremated and split between them and a plot in his native East Texas. But his last wife, Cleo Shelby, called that directive a forgery and said another document signed two years ago gave her power over his affairs.

 

Both sides said Monday they were close to reaching a formal settlement, heading off a civil trial scheduled for Thursday. They said the agreement will allow Shelby's body to be cremated, but with the ashes split five ways instead of four, with an extra share for Cleo Shelby.

 

"We're not happy with it but we want to get my dad in the ground," said Shelby's oldest son, Michael, who said his siblings were still discussing final details.

 

Cleo Shelby said she was thankful the fight was over. In a statement, she said "both sides have agreed to immediately halt the litigation involving the burial of my husband, and he will soon be laid to rest." Her attorney, J. Richard Tubb, said Cleo would have the chance to briefly see her husband's body before cremation.

 

Shelby was the force behind the legendary Shelby Cobra sports car, as well as versions of Ford's Mustang and Chrysler's Viper. He was also one of the nation's longest-living heart transplant recipients, having received a heart in June 1990.

 

In the months before his death, Shelby spent hours test-driving his last Mustang Shelby GT500, which sets a new record for horsepower and hits a top speed of more than 200 miles per hour.

 

But he also wore several other hats during a long, colorful life: chicken farmer, race car driver, philanthropist, safari tour operator and the maker of a well-known line of chili. He was married several times and kept homes in Los Angeles and his native East Texas.

 

Shortly after his death, Cleo Shelby and her husband's three children - sons Michael and Patrick, and daughter Sharon - filed paperwork in a Dallas County lawsuit over the arrangements for his remains. Cleo Shelby claimed that her husband gave her power of attorney in August 2010 after he suffered a stroke, and she accused Michael Shelby of having "arranged to exclude" her from her husband's bedside in his final months.

 

Michael Shelby maintained during an interview Monday that his father, in front of seven witnesses, signed a document this year directing that his remains be divided between his living children and a plot of land in Texas. He described the settlement as a necessary compromise, and Tubb said both sides agreed that a deal was better than a court fight.

 

"Although I'm not pleased with that, I don't think anybody's ever pleased in a settlement," Michael Shelby said.

[07SGT]

I am just glad it is over and he can be laid to rest. In TEXAS!!!!!!!!!

[EL SHELBY]

Amen.

[Grabber]

The ashes split up 5 ways. Very odd arrangement and to hear that Cleo gets 2 shares of his ashes is even more bizarre.

[fcettner]

Wow, glad it got resolved and things settled down finaly.

[twobjshelbys]

Finally. RIP Carroll.

 

I just want to be spread over the Gran Canyon. I don't think I'll care much how it happens.

[ShelbyLee]

Glad they finally agreed. Split 5 ways; wouldn't that mean the kids, Cleo, and the farm in Texas? I don't think Cleo gets two.

 

RIP CS.

[08KR525]

This story just keeps getting odder. Will this mean there will be multiple grave sites for Carroll?

[ilmor]

Weird but I'm glad to see its settling. I don't like the idea of splitting up shares of ashes, ie, his body, personally. When my mother died my sister wanted to split the ashes and I said no, keep her all in one place!!!

[07SGT]

The way I interpreted the article is that the ashes were divided with each of the children receiving 20% each (60%), Cleo (20%, and the remainder, 20% to be buried with his parents in TX, for a total of 100%. I am curious if there were other behind the scene deals or if this encompasses everything.

[jerseygator]

Thank GOD they finally came to their senses and reached an agreement. Now he can rest in peace...

[Grabber]

APNewsBreak:

 

 

Both sides said Monday they were close to reaching a formal settlement, heading off a civil trial scheduled for Thursday. They said the agreement will allow Shelby's body to be cremated, but with the ashes split five ways instead of four, with an extra share for Cleo Shelby.

 

 

"Although I'm not pleased with that, I don't think anybody's ever pleased in a settlement," Michael Shelby said.

 

 

The agreement says cleo gets 2 shares of the ashes.

[jerseygator]

The agreement says cleo gets 2 shares of the ashes.

 

 

I understood it to be the "original 4 shares" were 3 for each kid and one for the E Texas ranch. The 5th share was the extra share. Meaning only one share goes to Cleo. Could be wrong...