Shelby Jean Langford Owens Brewer, 88, of Pensacola, FL., passed away on Saturday, March 1, 2025.

Born on December 18, 1936 in Flintville, TN, Shelby Jean Langford was the oldest child of railroad mechanic Harvey Creighton Langford and Emma Lucille McDonald. She was also the mother of three daughters, Karen, Kristie, and Kaylon.

Shelby worked very hard to support her family at the height of the Cold War. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, she accepted a position in Huntsville, AL at the Thiokol Corporation, which focused on closing the perceived missile gap in the arms race. In the 1960s, Shelby accepted a position in Fayetteville, TN to help expand operations at CFW Construction, an experience about which she details in Dick Farrar, Jr.'s 2019 book "The Rise and Fall of a Construction Giant: The History, People and Stories of CFW Construction."

In the late 1960s, Shelby went to New York to study permanent hair removal techniques using electricity to destroy hair growth cells. Following a divorce in 1970, she moved to Huntsville, AL to open her own business in electrolysis. In 1975, she moved to Pensacola, FL, where she lobbied tirelessly for passage of consumer protection laws for her profession. In 1992, she received approval from the Food & Drug Administration and became the first licensed electrologist in Florida. She was also the first person in Pensacola to employ lasers for hair removal. Shelby published several articles and books about electrolysis, the last of which, The Hair Connection published in 2023, focuses on the relationship between unwanted hair growth and terminal illness. Until 2016, she developed close relationships with her clients, many of them from the LGBTQIA+ community in the Florida panhandle who had transitioned and depended on her to remove unwanted hair. In 2022, she donated all her research and business papers to the archives at the University of West Florida.

In 1977, Shelby married the love of her life, Richard Allen Brewer, who preceded her in death in 2003. She is also preceded in death by her beloved sister, Sharon Caldwell; daughter, Kaylon Jean Luttrell; grandson, Seth Luttrell; aunts, Gertrude Counts and Cleo Gray; uncle, Guy Langford, as well as cousins Janice Thompson, Mack Counts, Gail Lyle, and Randall Gray.

She is survived by her younger brother, Mike Langford; grandson, Tyler DeWayne Moore, and daughters, Karen Owens Moore and Kristie Brannon, the last of whom is estranged as well as her children and grandchildren.

Shelby's final days were peaceful thanks to Peoples Hospice and Palliative Care, and Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel could not have been more respectful and generous.

Shelby's cremains and those of her husband Richard will be held forever close at Barrancas National Cemetery. A funeral procession will leave Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel at 2:00pm CST to go to the graveside service that will take place on Friday, May 30, 2025 at 2:30pm CST. We invite the friends and family of both Shelby and Richard to attend the service and share their memories and experiences.