Matthew Williams doesn’t have many memories of his great-grandparents, but the teenager certainly feels a connection to those who came before him.

The 13-year-old recently visited the graves of Thomas and Trula Shelton, known in the family as Mammaw and Pappaw. They lived in Spotsylvania County and are buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens near Four-Mile Fork.

Matthew went to the cemetery with his grandmother Mary Shelton, also of Spotsylvania. They talked about a cherry tree planted nearby in honor of his great-grandparents.

It was October, and the leafless tree seemed almost lifeless. Matthew asked if he could decorate it for Christmas.

“Their tree looked really empty, and I didn’t think they deserved that,” Matthew said.

His grandmother was so touched by the gesture that she still gets teary-eyed at the thought of it.

“How many 13-year-olds would ever come up with such a wonderful, selfless act?” she wondered.

Initially, Matthew, who lives in King William County, wanted to get ornaments that represented the various interests of almost 50 people in the extended Shelton family.

He figured his grandmother could take him to every crafts store in the Fredericksburg area for supplies.

That turned out to be too expensive, so Matthew compromised with generic ornaments.

He put white pixie-like angels on the tree for the Sheltons’ three sons, two daughters and their spouses.

For the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he selected glittery pink and purple angels for the females, green and blue snowmen for the males.

He grouped the personalized ornaments according to which Shelton son or daughter they descended from, literally separating the branches into a family tree.

Near the center, he put a starred ornament with a photo of his great-grandparents.

“As always, all of us are being looked after by our Mammaw and Pappaw,” Mary Shelton said.

Matthew is an honor student at Hamilton-Holmes Middle School in King William, and he plays soccer and enjoys music. He hopes his great-grandparents are happy with the tree decorated in their honor.

His parents and grandmother certainly are proud of him for remembering two people who meant so much to their family.

“They were wonderful, we were quite spoiled by them,” said Matthew’s mother, Anita Williams.

This week at the cemetery, various members of the Shelton family gathered around the tree and talked about the cornbread and beans, fried eggs and pork chops their Mammaw loved to cook.

They laughed about her chocolate gravy. You read that right. She made a warm chocolate sauce and poured it over biscuits.

Thomas Shelton was a farmer who also drove a truck for Roxbury Farm and Garden Center in Fredericksburg. If he hadn’t seen someone for six months, he’d hug that person and pick up the conversation where it left off the last time.

At one point or another, Thomas and Trula Shelton looked after every one of their 10 grandchildren.

“To Mammaw and Pappaw, grandchildren were the world to them,” Anita Williams said.

Matthew might say the feelings are mutual.

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com