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Longtime VMA Executive Director Dink Shackleford succumbs to cancer

Published September 6th, 2007 | 2 Comments

DRYDEN — Dink Shackleford cut quite a trail across Southwest Virginia and into the hearts of all who knew him, but one would be hard-pressed to detect the tracks of a wheelchair.

The widely known coal industry spokesman and civic affairs firebrand succumbed to cancer Wednesday. Shackleford died at his home in Dryden attended by his wife, Shirley, two stepsons and a daughter, and other family members.

Raised in Keokee, Shackleford’s 50 years among the mountain folk of his beloved Southwest Virginia were not exactly quiet ones, all who knew him can attest. In blazing his broad trail through life, Shackleford’s wild sense of humor preceded him and lingered long after “Typhoon Dink” blew back out the door.

“There was never a dull moment at Kiwanis when Dink was there,” said Norton Kiwanis member Barbara Caruso. “We thought the world of Dink. He kept us going.”

Crippled by a rock fall in a coal mine while still a youth, Shackleford made a mockery of the word, “disability,” said Norton City Manager Ernie Ward and Norton Kiwanis Secretary-Treasurer Esther Bolling.

“We just thought he was a super-hero. He did so much for the Kiwanis, he put the rest of us to shame. With all he would do, you really would forget he was in a wheelchair,” said Bolling. “All that energy. Even after he got so ill, he still had all that energy. We all knew (his death) was coming, but it’s still just an awful loss.”

Ward said Shackleford made everyone else around him aspire to think big thoughts and do big things.

“I would say he was an inspirational person. He had a lot of courage, I think, because he didn’t let his disability stop him from doing anything he wanted to do,” Ward said. “He was a visionary, I think. He had a lot of ideas how things could and should be done. He’s going to be missed. Greatly.”

If Shackleford got around most days using one conveyance that he made nearly invisible, folks couldn’t help but notice the other: a Harley Davidson motorcycle complete with sidecar. Dink aboard his Harley was as much a symbol of his zest for life, and daring to be different, as anything one can imagine, said Marty Hagy, co-owner of Hagy & Fawbush Funeral Home in Norton and also a member of the Kiwanis.

“I got so tickled every time I was around him. He loved to tell about the time he got a parking ticket because he parked his Harley in a handicapped spot,” Hagy said.

“He got the biggest kick out of that. I can just picture him rolling into the courtroom now, wearing that grin of his just for the judge. Must have been the fastest toss of a case out of traffic court, ever. He always enjoyed his Harley. When it came to Dink, the word ‘handicap’ never entered the picture. I mean, you just did not see that.”

Donnie Ratliff, vice president of external affairs for Alpha Natural Resources, first met Shackleford 18 years ago when the Virginia Mining Association member companies were seeking a new executive director for the industry organization. Shackleford was hired on the spot. The VMA hasn’t been the same since or ever will be again, Ratliff said.

“My first impression of Dink Shackleford is, we found an advocate for the mining industry who believed in his heart and soul of what this industry could do. He could see opportunities where the rest of us saw challenges,” he said.

“Personally, I’ve lost a really good friend and the industry has lost a jewel. There was only one Dink. He was as knowledgeable on environmental issues as anyone we’ve ever had in that position. He was active in so many different facets of the industry, and he would do anything to promote the industry that really put him in a wheelchair. Yet, I never heard a word of animosity out of Dink about what happened to him when he was 15, 16 years old in his father’s coal mine.”

Norton Mayor Robert Raines said Shackleford could never be accused of being shy when it came to pushing an idea or a project.

“Dink was Dink,” Raines said. “The thing I recall best about Dink is, in whatever he was involved, that abundance of energy of his. He always questioned, ‘Why can’t we do it?’”

Several years ago, Shackleford and Norton businessman Chris Jones showed up at Norton City Council to push a Native American cultural heritage project of fantastic proportions, including a possible trail from High Knob to the Cumberland Gap. Shackleford was a one-man stampede in his own right, Raines said.

“They were so enthusiastic, at one point I said, ‘I think I hear the buffalo coming through the Cumberland Gap, headed our way, right now,’” the mayor said. “His enthusiasm, his energy and certainly his contributions to our communities will always be remembered, and he will be sincerely missed.”

“He was probably the most unusual person I’ve ever known,” said Bob Isaac, a member of the Mountain Empire Community College board and MECC Foundation board.

“Dink was the most un-handicapped handicapped person you could meet. It seemed like nothing held him back. He would try anything. In fact, last year at the (Norton) Christmas parade, he would grab hold of a car or one of those little Shriners vehicles and away he would go. He just had a ball, and all the time in a wheelchair.”

Shackleford was imbued with a mischievous inclination to drag others along in one of his madcap adventures, too, whether they agreed beforehand or not, Isaac said.

“He had a habit in Kiwanis where he would dream up some new thing for the Kiwanis to do, and put my name on it. He would say, ‘Bob Isaac told me to suggest this’ or ‘Bob Isaac called me about that,’ and I hadn’t the first clue until right at that moment,” Isaac said. “He was a special person. He was one of those people you will never forget.”

Pepsi-Cola of Norton President Pedro Hunnicutt said the one thing Shackleford wasn’t, was disabled.

“I don’t know whoever thought Dink was disabled, but it sure wasn’t Dink,” Hunnicutt said. “There’s a lot of good you could say about Dink, but one thing I always admired about him, he didn’t let anything stop him. He was a very pro-active, capable fellow who would not let things stand in his way, and I admire that.”

Shackleford was an inspiration to family members too. His niece, Sammi Litton, reminisced Thursday about her uncle’s speech at her college graduation from Virginia Intermont College.

“I submitted his name as our guest speaker at graduation. I went into the meeting with the dean with a whole speech ready to defend why he was the best choice over all the others. I didn’t use that speech. It was an easy choice for the board. His accomplishments always spoke for themselves,” Litton said.

Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy Division of Mines Chief Frank Linkous said Shackleford had the sort of personality that “if you ever met him, you never forgot him. His suffering’s over now. But you hate to see anybody go, especially somebody special like Dink Shackleford. They broke the mold when they made him.

“I considered Dink a personal friend for over 20 years I knew him. It was always just flat-out enjoyable to be in his company. He could always make you laugh and take your mind off some of the serious issues we had to deal with. He was just a unique personality.”

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There is one thing we want everyone to know about Dink Shackleford. We had not seen Dink in a few years but anyone who ever met him will understand this...just hearing his name still puts a smile on our faces. He was truely an unforgetable man with a heart almost too big to be housed in that human body of his. If there has ever been a template for living life to the fullest...it was Dink Shackleford. Admit it, your smiling right now remembering some of the wonderful and crazy things he said and did that you were witness to over the years. That is the mark of a wonderful person. Let that be just one of the lessons he leaves for everyone. Live, love and fight for what you believe in. Our hearts go out to his family and friends who are missing him now but remember he fought a good fight. Rest now friend....you earned it!

The Vaughns

Myra Vaughn | 9/8/2007 - 10:07 AM - ( Comment

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I hated to here about " Dink " He was a good old Guy! We grew up in the camps of Keokee, Va. We had lived about 2 miles from Dink, and move with in 1/4 miles, for the first time we had inside water and a bathroom and bath tub. And the police car looked like Andy Griffin car, on Mayberry. 1964...Dink, always made you feel like somebody, when he saw you. Thanks, FRIEND... " Cotton"

ken henry | 9/7/2007 - 12:37 PM - ( Comment

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