Ballentine - Funeral service for Mrs. Verta Ballentine Sheely, 95, educator and counselor of Ballentine, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, January 7, 2000, at Bethel Lutheran Church, White Rock. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. tonight at the church youth building. Memorials may be made to Bethel Lutheran Church, White Rock, SC. Honorary pallbearers will be members of The Older Adult Sunday Church School Class. Mrs. Sheely, widow of Curtis W. Sheely, died Tuesday, January 4, 2000. Born in Ballentine, she was a daughter of the late Eusebius Arthur Ballentine and Jennie Boozer Ballentine. She attended the local Ballentine School until graduation. She graduated from Summerland College in 1924 and was an instructor there until the college burned in 1930. She was then transferred to Newberry College as instructor and Dean of Women. Mrs. Sheely left Newberry in June of 1931 and married in December of that year. She taught at the local school, 1942-1959, first at Chapin Elementary for four years and then at Irmo High School for the remainder of the time. In 1959, she became an employment counselor for the S.C. State Employment Service, Columbia office. Most of this time was spent assisting youth and handicapped clients and broadening her capabilities to work with the severely handicapped, who used orthotics and prosthesis, through studies at New York University's Graduate Medical School. She received a citation from President Richard Nixon for her work with the severely handicapped. She retired as supervisor of the counseling unit in 1970. After her retirement, she devoted more of her time to service in her church and community. She was a lifetime member of Bethel Lutheran Church (or one of its predecessor churches), always an active participant in all of her church activities including Sunday school teacher, Lowman Home Volunteer, church council member, member of the U.D.C. Granby Chapter of the D.A.R., Ballentine chapter of OES. Surviving are her son, William Curtis Sheely Jr.; daughter, Marilyn Sheely Shealy; daughter-in-law, Lougene Sheely; son-in-law, Pastor Walter W. Shealy, all of Ballentine; grandchildren, Walter W. Shealy Jr. of Ballentine, William Curtis Sheely III of Kernersville, N.C., Sarah Shealy Dowd of Goose Creek, Michael S. Sheely of Charlotte, Bonnie Shealy Bates of Gilbert; 12 great-grandchildren, 1 great-great-grandchildren; sisters, Bonnie B. Stevenson, Myrtle B.Bill, both of Ballentine; several nieces and nephews. She was preceded by her brothers, Rudolph and Eugene Ballentine, and sister, Blanche B. Derrick. © The State, Columbia, SC, 6 Jan 2000