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! ===Marriages and children=== Shea married his childhood sweetheart,<ref name="countryworks.com"/> Erma L. Scharfe (1908β1976)<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> 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