Rev. Howard Lee Shelfer

Rev. Howard Lee Shelfer of Ozark passed away Wednesday morning, June 20, 2007, at Ozark Health & Rehabilitation Center. He was 85. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, June 24, 2007, from the Chapel of Fuqua-Bankston Funeral Home with Rev. Kelsey Brantley, Rev. Mike Deese, and Rev. W.L. Sheffield officiating. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Memory Gardens with full military honors and Fuqua-Bankston Funeral Home directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, June 23, 2007. Rev. Shelfer was born February 15, 1922 in Panama City, Florida, the son of Sammuel Shelfer and Effie Henderson Shelfer. He joined the Merchant Marines while still in high school. Howard then crossed over to the U.S. Army Infantry, and later joined the United States Air Force where he was a maintenance instructor on the B52 aircraft. While in the Air Force he met and married Lorraine Clark, his wife of 50 years. While in the military Howard and his wife began their ministry for Jesus and he served as a pastor for 52 years. Rev. Shelfer built the foundation of his ministry on a promise from God, Psalm 37:25—“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” They started many churches in the United States and abroad, finally settling in Ozark where he became pastor at the old Dean Church. Rev. Shelfer is preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Lorraine Mable Clark Shelfer; son, Dale Shelfer; sister, Eloise Whitehead; and brother, Otis Shelfer. Survivors include four daughters & sons-in-law: Jacqueline & Randy Sandlin, Joyce & Terry Marler, Judy & Chester Rusher, all of Ozark; Lynn & Jerry Stewart of Springfield, MO; one son & daughter-in-law, Jerry & Michelle Shelfer of Wood Acre, CA; twelve grandchildren; and 7 great-grandchildren. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” II Timothy 3:12