Longtime advocate for the poor and working class in Rhode Island, Henry Shelton, has passed away at the age of 86. Shelton was a former priest, who devoted most of his life to fighting for better housing, food for the hungry and job security. He was founder of the George Wiley Center, a community advocacy organization in Pawtucket.
Rhode Island Public Radio’s Scott MacKay remembers he was unafraid to stand up to utility company executives at public hearings and rallies.
He was telling them and telling the press, ‘you’re shutting off poor people’s heat in the winter when they can’t afford it. Now you go home to your nice house, you’re warm, you don’t have this problem,’” said MacKay.
MacKay said Shelton was uninterested in becoming a politician, and was happy to work behind the scenes directly with the poor of Rhode Island.
“A man, who was always there on the side of working people, poor people, the oppressed, he was a man of justice, and he really really valued the idea that you could empower people to change their own lives,” said MacKay.
Shelton began the center in 1981. He ran the nonprofit center for more than three decades until his retirement this summer.
