Janet Doreen Schonert Shelby, 63, of Decatur died Wednesday (March 8, 1995) in Decatur Memorial Hospital.  A graveside service in Moravian Cemetery, West Salem.

Mrs. Shelby was born Dec. 6, 1931, in Olney, daughter of Ethel Marks Schonert and the late H.F. Schonert. She married Dr. Charles E. Shelby in 1973; they were divorced.

Mrs. Shelby retired from Illinois Bell after 38 years of service in December 1990. She began in 1950 as an operator and other positions included supervisor, group chief operator, and most recently, service representative. Before coming to Decatur, she was employed by Prairie Farms Creamery and Illinois Commercial Telephone Co., both in Olney. In the 1970s, she was also employed by South Central Bell in Frankfort, Ky., and as a district clerk with Southern Bell in Savannah, Ga. Mrs. Shelby graduated from East Richland High School in Olney in 1948. She attended Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Millikin University in Decatur and Armstrong State College in Savannah, Ga. Mrs. Shelby was involved in a lifelong study of Illinois history and her family's genealogy, concentrating on the Shelby family, which was her maternal grandfather's mother's family. She published ''Chasin' Shelbys,'' a compilation of Illinois Shelbys and a Shelby Family Reunion Cookbook. She was a charter member of the Illinois State Genealogical Society, as well as the second vice-president and the honors and awards chairman. Mrs. Shelby was a member of Riverside Baptist Church in Decatur. She was the first vice-president of the Decatur Chapter of the United Way, secretary for three years for Decatur Trades and Labor, vice-president of Local 5009 Communication Workers of America and recorder for Local 146 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Mrs. Shelby is survived by many dear friends and her loving family, including her mother; brothers, William David Schonert and wife Carol of Decatur; Robert Neil Schonert and wife Judy of Monticello; aunt, Edna Marks Gentz of Livonia, Mich.; cousin, Wanda Gentz Goodsell and her husband Howard of Livonia, Mich.; nieces; stepchildren, Christie Harington of Paducah, Ky.; Dorothy Schafer and husband Randy of Brooklet, Ga.; Susan Hoffman of Savannah, Ga.; Richard Shelby of Marietta, Ga.; seven stepgrandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her father and one aunt, Maude Marks Hedrick.

Mrs. Shelby was the recipient of a liver transplant in February of 1991 at the University of Chicago Hospital.

Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) ~ March 10, 1995