An extensive practice attests the ability of Dr. Theodore T. Shackelford as a physician and surgeon, and he is numbered among the leading representatives of the medical fraternity of Haskell, where he established his residence in 1917. He was born in Okolona, Arkansas, January 31, 1886, of the marriage of Theodore T. and Elizabeth Jane (Thompson) Shackelford, the former a native of Mississippi and the latter of South Carolina. When a lad of eight years the father accompanied his parents to Arkansas and his education was obtained in the schools of that state. On reaching adult years he took up the occupation of farming, purchasing land in Clark county, Arkansas, which he continued to improve and develop until 1910, when he retired from active agricultural pursuits, having through industry, enterprise and capable management accumulated a comfortable competence. He is now residing in Foreman, Arkansas, at the age of seventy-three, while the mother is in her seventy-fourth year, and they are highly esteemed residents of their community.
Their son, Dr. Theodore T. Shackelford, was reared in Okolona, Arkansas, and there attended the grammar and high schools, after which he worked in a drug store for three years. He then became a student at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated with the class of 1910, at which time the M. D. degree was conferred upon him. In the same year he came to Oklahoma, first opening an office at Heavener, where he remained for two years and then returned to Arkansas, following his profession at Foreman until March, 1917, when he came to Haskell, where he has since successfully engaged in practice, the list of his patients being a large and growing one. Close study has formed the basis of his advancement, and combined with an appreciation of the scientific phases of his profession is a deep and abiding sympathy that prompts him to put forth earnest and effective effort where the welfare of his fellowmen is involved.
In June, 1916, Dr. Shackelford was united in marriage to Miss Ivy L. Hathaway, and they now have a son, Paul O., who was born in March, 1920. The Doctor is a veteran of the World war, becoming a Lieutenant in the Medical Corps, and for a year he was stationed at Langres, France, where he attended an advanced medical school, receiving his discharge from the service on the 6th of March, 1919. In religious faith he is a Baptist, and he gives his political allegiance to the Democratic Party. He is intensely interested in the welfare and development of his community, particularly along educational lines, and is now serving as President of the local school board, rendering. important and valuable service in this connection. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, and his professional connections are with the Muskogee County and Oklahoma State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. Progress has ever been his watchword, and holding to high professional ideals, he has gained the skill that brings to his work the utmost possibility of accuracy in results, while in all matters of citizenship his influence has ever been on the side of advancement and improvement.