George Beverly Shea Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Personal life== ===Early life and family=== George Beverly Shea was born in [[North Dundas, Ontario|Winchester, Ontario]], Canada, on February 1, 1909, the fourth of eight children of the Rev. Adam Joseph Shea (1872–1946),<ref name="interment.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.interment.net/data/us/ny/allegany/pleasant/pleasant.htm |title=Mount Pleasant Cemetery - Allegany County, New York |publisher=Interment.net |access-date=2011-03-03}}</ref> a Wesleyan Methodist Church—now [[Wesleyan Church]]—minister, and his wife, Maude Mary Theodora (Whitney) Shea<ref>Shea, George Beverly, "How Sweet the Sound", Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, p. 161 ({{ISBN|0-8423-7042-0}})</ref> (1881–1971).<ref name="assistnews.net"/><ref name="interment.net"/> His uncle, Isaac Shea (1865-1946) of [[North Dundas, Ontario|Winchester]] had fought in the [[Second Boer War]] with the [[Royal Canadian Dragoons]]. ===Religious background=== The Shea family served at the Wesleyan Methodist church in [[Winchester, Ontario]], Canada;<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.billygraham.org/articlepage.asp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722112604/http://www.billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?ArticleID=100|url-status=dead|title=BGEA: A Conversation With George Beverly Shea|archive-date=22 July 2012|access-date=18 January 2021}}</ref> [[Houghton, New York]] (1917–1921); the Sunnyside Wesleyan Methodist church in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from 1921;<ref>"A Brief History of Our Church"; {{cite web |url=http://www.swc.on.ca/overview/overview_History_swc.php |title=Welcome to Sunnyside |access-date=2009-02-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212065334/http://www.swc.on.ca/overview/overview_History_swc.php |archive-date=2009-02-12 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wesleyan.org/doc/news_r1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221143807/http://wesleyan.org/doc/news_r1|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 21, 2009|title=Wesleyan News|date=February 21, 2009}}</ref> at the Willett Memorial Wesleyan Methodist Church at Midler Avenue, [[Syracuse, New York]];<ref>{{cite web|author=Midler Avenue Wesleyan Church |url=http://midleravewesleyan.blogspot.com/2008/05/about-us_23.html |title=Midler Ave Wesleyan Church: About Us |publisher=Midleravewesleyan.blogspot.com |date=2004-02-27 |access-date=2011-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708053127/http://midleravewesleyan.blogspot.com/2008/05/about-us_23.html |archive-date=2011-07-08 }}</ref> and the [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] Wesleyan Methodist church during his youth.<ref name="georgebeverlysheamusic.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.georgebeverlysheamusic.com/ |title=George Beverly Shea Collection |website=Georgebeverlysheamusic.com |date=1909-02-01 |access-date=2011-03-03}}</ref> Shea himself said that he became a Christian at the age of five or six,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> but made a rededication to Christ when he was 18, at the Sunnyside Wesleyan Methodist Church in Ottawa: <blockquote>[T]here were times when I needed to rededicate my life to the Lord Jesus. When I was 18, my dad was pastoring a church in Ottawa, and I was feeling not too spiritual. The church was having a "special effort," as they called it, for a week. I remember that on Friday night Dad came down from the pulpit and tenderly placed his hand on my shoulder. He whispered, "I think tonight might be the night, son, when you come back to the Lord." Whatever Dad did or said, I listened to him and respected him. And, yes, that was the night!</blockquote> ===Musical background=== Shea was taught to play the violin by his father, and the piano and [[organ (music)|organ]] by his mother.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.ca">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/george-beverly-shea-emc|title=George Beverly Shea|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Music in Canada]]|access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> Shea's [[bass-baritone]] voice brought early recognition and provided many opportunities for him to sing in his father's church.<ref name="villagebiblechurchhsv.org">[http://www.villagebiblechurchhsv.org/July%2008.html] {{dead link|date=November 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> He began singing at religious meetings in the Ottawa Valley.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.ca"/> ===Education=== Shea attended Annesley College in Ottawa, before transferring in 1928 to [[Houghton College]] ([[Houghton, New York]]), where he studied singing with [[Herman Baker]].<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.ca"/> While studying at [[Houghton College]], Shea sang with the Houghton College Glee Club.<ref name="gmahalloffame.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.gmahalloffame.org/inductee_bio.cfm?ID=343|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019184405/http://www.gmahalloffame.org/inductee_bio.cfm?ID=343|url-status=dead|title=gmahalloffame.org|archive-date=October 19, 2007|website=Gmahalloffame.org}}</ref> Financial difficulties made it necessary for him to terminate his studies in 1929.<ref name="villagebiblechurchhsv.org"/> ===Life insurance company employment=== After leaving college, Shea became a clerk in the medical department in the [[New York City]] offices of the [[Mutual of New York]] life insurance company, where he worked for the next nine years.<ref name="villagebiblechurchhsv.org"/><ref name="countryworks.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.infodesk.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050223032148/http://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY=SHEA|url-status=dead|title=Integrate Internal and External Data | Get Curated Briefings|archive-date=February 23, 2005|website=InfoDesk.com}}</ref> ===Marriages and children=== Shea married his childhood sweetheart,<ref name="countryworks.com"/> Erma L. Scharfe (1908–1976)<ref name="interment.net"/> on 16 June 1934.<ref name="Shea 2009">"Shea, George Beverly." ''Century of Country''; {{cite web|url=http://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY%3DSHEA |title=InfoDesk | Information Management & Sharing Solutions |access-date=February 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050223032148/http://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY=SHEA |archive-date=February 23, 2005 }} . Retrieved 3 February 2009.</ref> Shea and Erma had two children: Ronnie and Elaine.<ref name="villagebiblechurchhsv.org"/><ref name="Shea 2009"/> Shea's children became Christians at an early age. Shea's daughter Elaine became a Christian at the age of 8 during a Billy Graham Crusade at the [[Cow Palace]], [[San Francisco, California]], in 1958.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>Sherwood Eliot Wirt, ''Billy: A Personal Look at Billy Graham, the World's Best-loved Evangelist'' (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1997):52-55; Retrieved 10 February 2009.</ref><ref>S.E. Wirt, ''Crusade at the Golden Gate'' (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1959).</ref> In 1959 Ron responded to an invitation by Billy Graham during one of the Crusade meetings in [[Sydney, Australia]] and was counseled by [[Grady B. Wilson|Grady Wilson]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>Stuart Barton Babbage and Ian Siggins, ''Light Beneath the Cross'' (Melbourne: World's Work, 1960).</ref><ref>Sherwood Eliot Wirt, ''Billy: A Personal Look at Billy Graham, the World's Best-loved Evangelist'' (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1997):65;</ref> Erma Shea died in September 1976, and [[funeral|memorial service]]s were held at [[Western Springs, Illinois]], on 8 September 1976.<ref>"Select Chronology Listing of Events in the History of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association"; {{cite web |url=http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bgeachro/bgeachron02.htm |title=BGEA Chronology Details |access-date=2011-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606144321/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bgeachro/bgeachron02.htm |archive-date=2011-06-06 }} (updated 10 December 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2009).</ref> On 19 December 1985 Shea married Karlene Aceto<ref name="wheaton.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bgeachro/bgeachron02.htm |title=BGEA Chronology Details |publisher=Wheaton.edu |access-date=2011-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606144321/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bgeachro/bgeachron02.htm |archive-date=2011-06-06 }}</ref> (1942 -), a 1972 graduate of [[Montreat College]],<ref>''Reflection: A Magazine for the Alumni and Friends of Montreat College'' 6 (Winter 2001):3; {{cite web |url=http://www.montreat.edu/news/Reflection/Reflections01.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527135212/http://www.montreat.edu/news/Reflection/Reflections01.pdf |archive-date=2011-05-27 }} . Retrieved 4 February 2009.</ref><ref>Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, {{cite web |url=http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bgeachro/bgeachron02.htm |title=BGEA Chronology Details |access-date=2011-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606144321/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bgeachro/bgeachron02.htm |archive-date=2011-06-06 }}</ref> in [[Montreat, North Carolina]].<ref name="wheaton.edu"/> In a September 2007 interview Shea recalled how he met and married his second wife, Karlene: <blockquote>It has been 20 years of bliss. I was a widower for 10 years in a suburb of Chicago and that's a long time. When we were over in Korea in 1984, Billy brought me into his room and said, 'I've been talking to Ruth, my wife,{{clarify|date=September 2021}} in Montreat this morning on the phone and we think that 10 years is enough,' and so he mentioned Karlene's name. Mr. Graham didn't do the service. We had the pastor of our church here and he put on his nice robe and we were married in Billy's home.<ref name="news.christiansunite.com">{{Cite web|url=http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06386.shtml|title='I'd Rather Have Jesus' - At 97 years of age, George Beverly Shea is still singing for the Lord|website=News.christiansunite.com|access-date=18 January 2021}}</ref></blockquote> Shea, who became a naturalized American citizen in 1941,<ref name="Biography2">{{cite web |url=http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2004/s04100094.htm |title=I Am 95 and Am Feeling All of 90 |last=Wooding |first=Dan |date=October 20, 2004 |website=ASSIST News Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214065847/http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2004/s04100094.htm|archive-date=December 14, 2013 |access-date=August 7, 2017}}</ref> and his wife, Karlene, who was 33 years his junior, lived in Montreat, North Carolina,<ref>"'Joy of Music' Filmed at Montreat College," ''Reflection: A Magazine for the Alumni and Friends of Montreat College'' 6 (Winter 2001):3; {{cite web |url=http://www.montreat.edu/news/Reflection/Reflections01.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527135212/http://www.montreat.edu/news/Reflection/Reflections01.pdf |archive-date=2011-05-27 }} . Retrieved 4 February 2009.</ref> on the same road as Billy Graham's home.<ref>Harold Myra and Marshall Shelley, ''The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham'' (Zondervan, 2005):244.</ref> ===Death=== A centenarian, Shea died on April 16, 2013, at the age of 104 from complications following a stroke. He was buried on the grounds of the [[Billy Graham Library]] in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Billy Graham Library: George Beverly Shea, Longtime Billy Graham Associate, Passes Away |url=http://www.billygrahamlibrary.org/pgview.aspx?pid=16&eid=91 |publisher=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association |access-date=7 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606210045/http://www.billygrahamlibrary.org/pgview.aspx?pid=16&eid=91 |archive-date=6 June 2014 }}</ref> A [[reed organ]] owned by Shea now belongs to [[Art Robinson]].<ref>"[https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-grandfather-of-alt-science/ The Grandfather Of Alt-Science: Art Robinson has seeded scientific skepticism within the GOP for decades. Now he wants to use urine to save lives]" by Daniel Engber on [[FiveThirtyEight]]. Oct. 12, 2017 Accessed Oct. 15, 2017.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page