Born on December 23, 1918 to Jesse and Laura Shultz in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Milton grew up in St. Joseph and enlisted in the Navy after graduating from High School. He trained in the Great Lakes region and was assigned to the USS Dobbin, a destroyer tender. The Dobbin's home port was San Diego, California. However, in the years leading up to World War II, it spent a significant amount of time at the Pearl Harbor navel base. On December 7, 1941, the Dobbin was anchored in the northern part of the bay with 5 four-pipe destroyers tied up to it. On the morning of December 7th when the Japanese attacked, Milton was on duty in the evaporator room. No one knew what was happening, but Milton said that it sounded like someone was pounding on the hull with sledge hammers. A Japanese aircraft attempted to drop a bomb on the ship, but it fell between the Dobbin and the first destroyer, causing no significant damage. After the attack was over the Dobbin received wounded from throughout the area and turned the mess area into a make-shift sick-bay.

Within a week Milton and the Dobbin were on their way to Australia. While stationed in the vicinity of Australia, Milton, as did many of his crew members, took shore leave in Sidney and the surrounding area. During this time he met and married an Australian girl named Patricia. Before the war ended a daughter, Kerry, was born. At the end of the war, however, as happened to many war time marriages, Milton and Patricia divorced. Milton returned to the States and Patricia and Kerry remained in Australia.

After the end of the war, Milton mustered out of the Navy in San Diego, worked there for a while, and moved up the pacific coast, eventually finding a job in Astoria, Oregon, with a creamery as a boiler/physical plant operator. It was there that he met Irene Julian and they were married in October 1950. A couple of years later he was accepted into the Corps of Engineers hydroelectric operator training program and the family moved to Cascade Locks for training at Bonneville dam. After completing training he took an operator's position at McNary dam and the family moved to the Hermiston area where he built a house and their two children attended school. In 1972 he took a control room operator's position with the Corps of Engineers Detroit-Big Cliff operation on the Santiam river. Just few years later he retired and he and Irene moved to Salem.

For the last 2 years he lived in the Riverton assisted living facility and enjoyed taking walks in the hallways, chatting with the staff, and generally taking life easy.

Milton was preceded in death by his parents, his three brothers and one sister, and his wife, Irene.

He is survived by his daughters Kerry and Marlene, his son Milton, and granddaughters Isabelle Gomez and Abbi Hess along with their children.