Talk:Bobby Sheldon

Middle name
, what is your source for his middle name? I didn't come across it in my research. Also, I never encountered any instances of his name being spelled "Bobbie" or him being referred to as "R.E." (except in a photo caption where names are typically abbreviated for space). Schazjmd  (talk)  15:07, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * As I'm no longer in Alaska, it became necessary for me to divest of my library. There's tons of things to scrutinize besides this one point.  I compiled assorted indices in my userspace, which I just consulted.  His full name is listed in both Tewkesbury's Who's Who in Alaska and Alaska Business Index (1947) and Who's Who in Alaskan Politics (1977).  The latter explicitly refers to him as "Bobbie".  Bob DeArmond's research does contain factual errors, but they are very few and far between, plus he had a reputation as a stickler when it came to factual accuracy.  Therefore, anything coming from him should generally be regarded as being good as gold.  As for references to him as "R. E.", these were usually found in directory listings of his various civil service positions.  Sorry that I can't provide a specific source.  It was commonplace for people to be referred to by their initials up until the 1950s. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions  10:30, 11 November 2021 (UTC)
 * @RadioKAOS, regarding your edit summary, please calm down. None of the sources in the article support the odd spelling. If you have sources for it, please cite them in the article. Directory listings often use initials in listings, that doesn't mean that's what the individuals were known as. Schazjmd   (talk)  20:05, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

Three other things to discuss for starters
First is his claim that he witnessed the Shootout on Juneau Wharf. There's a 2013 discussion on that article's talk page. Basically, Sheldon spent many years claiming that he was the last surviving witness to the shooting, following the death of Harriet Pullen in 1947. An active editor at that article contends that unidentified historians from the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park debunked that in the last years of his life. This contradicts the accounts given in the FDNM immediately following his death and in Stan Patty's book published in 2004. Patty spent several decades at the Seattle Times as their resident Alaska expert. Between that and the credibility of Epicenter Press as a publisher, it may very well trump whatever the NPS contends (and a source was never given, anyway).

Second, I read McKinley Station by Tom Walker some years back. From that, I seem to remember him writing that Sheldon lived at the Anchorage, not Fairbanks Pioneer Home at the time of his death.

Lastly, I left a mention at Talk: Lowell Thomas about his adventure with Sheldon in 1914. The source I obtained that from is yet another publication I no longer have. From what I remember, the account was somewhat widely published. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 10:30, 11 November 2021 (UTC)