Joe Shelton is a former Scotia Mine roof bolt operator and Long Wall technician. He was a member of the Scotia Mine Rescue Team, team one, that recovered the mine after the 1976 explosion. He was employed at Scotia until it's closing in 1988 after which he left Kentucky and retrained in the heating and air Industry at Knoxville, Tennessee. He later returned to Kentucky in 1997 and started his own heating and air business. Joe is currently retired and lives with his wife, Patricia on their small farm at Eolia, Kentucky in Letcher County. They have one daughter, Bambi Jo Pelham, of Dandridge, Tennessee.