Leroy Edward Sheldon

 Leroy E. Sheldon, Jr. (Lee), age 77 of Brule, passed away Tuesday,  April 5, 2022 at the Ogallala Community Hospital. 

Lee was born August 12, 1944 in Belfast, Maine and reared on a farm in nearby Morrill. He attended Morrill Grammar School, Crosby High School in Belfast, Bob Jones University (B.A.; M.A.) in Greenville, South Carolina, and Covenant Theological Seminary (MDiv.) in Creve Coeur, Missouri. He pastored Woodburn Congregational Church in Bunker Hill, Illinois and Christ Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, OK. He started and operated an ice business in Vancouver, Washington and started a cabinet installation business there as well. He moved his family to the Denver, Colorado area in 1984 where he continued to install high-end cabinetry. He and Kathy moved to Brule, Nebraska in 2004.

Lee will be remembered for his beautiful tenor voice and love of sacred choral music. He had an incredible mind and loved to read theology and write precisely worded letters to the editor. In his work with the ice and cabinetry businesses, Lee loved to have his children tag along and instilled in them his New England work ethic. He gave them a priceless childhood-homemade biscuits on Sunday mornings, sledding adventures to Mt. St. Helens, frequent jaunts to the beaches of Washington and Oregon, hunting trips, and hikes around abandoned gold mines in the Rocky Mountains that often ended at Beau Jo’s pizza for a mountain pie. Lee was a master woodworker whose craftsmanship was unrivaled in the Denver area. Among many of his personal projects for his children was a child-propelled go-kart, an attic bedroom for his daughters, and a playhouse that housed many of their happiest memories. He was often found whistling, teasing (and trying not to smile), and asking impossible-to-solve riddles. Lee loved doing crossword puzzles, studying the dictionary, and regularly baffled friends and family alike with his inimitable vocabulary.

Nurtured in a Christian home, during which time he attended the Bible-believing Morrill Baptist Church, Lee dates his consciously coming to Christ for salvation from sin by grace and saving faith alone at ten years of age under the preaching and godly culture of the Biblical gospel as defined by the Reformed Presbyterian faith. He considered himself graciously blessed by God and considered himself, as he would often say, “the beneficiary of every blessing available in Christ.” 

He was preceded in death by his parents Leroy E. "Roy" and Martha A. R.  "Becky" (Kinney) Sheldon of Morrill, Maine, and his beloved dogs Peppy and Darcey.

Lee is survived by his wife, Kathleen "Kathy," (Humphries) Sheldon of Brule, his two sisters Sonja Irene (Victor) Voss of Maple Lake, Minnesota and Candis Elizabeth (Pat) Scribner of Morrill, Maine, two brothers Steven Harris (Tisha) Sheldon of Wrightsville, PA and Timothy Merle (Kim) Sheldon of Brunswick, Maine, and foster sister Sara Lillian (Bob) Diekema of Deerfield Beach, FL. He leaves behind three daughters--Amy Ruth Henry (Ian) and their six children, Emily (David),  Hahn, Austen, Benjamin, Anna-Sophia, Elenia, and Cooper, Susan Rebecca Sheldon and her four children, Vincente, Timothy, Alexandria, and Millie, Joanna Beth Williams (Kwame) and their children Kaya and Ari, two sons--Joshua Lee (Jennifer) and their son Elias, Jonathan Kinney Sheldon (Sarah) and their seven children Ryan, Brooke, Jeremy, Bethany, Gideon, Joseph, and Douglas, and three stepchildren--Nicholas Antonopulos (Amy) and their children Abigail, Katie, and Natalie, Matthew Gus Antonopulos (Solara) and their boys Stephen and Niko, and Kristi Rhea Sash (Jason). Lee also has one great-granddaughter, Clementine Ruth Hahn.

Funeral Services will be 2:00 pm Saturday, April 9, 2022 from St. John's Lutheran Church with Rev. Jon Dickmander officiating. Visitation will be Friday, April 8th 2022 9:00 am to 6:00 pm at the Draucker Funeral Home Chapel.  A memorial has been established to St. John's Lutheran Church. Interment will be in the Brule Cemetery.

Online condolences may be left at www.drauckerfh.com and clicking the share a memory button. Services will be live streamed from www.drauckerfh.com and clicking the watch live button.

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21

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