Yvonne Engwall Sheline

Yvonne Engwall Sheline Yvonne Engwall Sheline, Ph.D., 79, a career homemaker, died suddenly on Wednesday, April 4, 2007, in Fort Myers, where she and her husband lived in the winter. She is survived by her husband of 56 years, Raymond K. Sheline, distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at Florida State. The service will be at 2 p.m. EDT Sunday at Abbey-Riposta Funeral Home (850-562-1518) with burial at Tallahassee Memory Gardens. Family will receive friends an hour prior to funeral service. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to American Baptist International Ministries, Attn.: Yvonne Engwall Sheline Fund, P.O. Box 851 Valley Forge, Pa. 19482 (1-800-222-3872 x. 2324, website www.internationalministries.org). Yvonne was born in Falun, Sweden on May 3, 1927. She grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Belgian Congo), as the daughter of Baptist missionaries. She was home-schooled by her mother until high-school, got her master's degree in education at the University of Chicago, where she met her husband. She obtained her Ph.D. in education from Florida State University at age 51, after raising seven children. She received a Fulbright Professorship for educational studies in Congo where she taught at the Pedagogical Institute. She had a custom of inviting all of her husband's FSU students, both undergraduate and graduate level, to dinner at their house on Lake Bradford. She maintained a life-long commitment to improving the lot of the Congolese people, and returned to work and volunteer many times over the years. She is the author of several books, some written in Kikongo (a dialect spoken in western Congo which was her first language), on topics such as prevention of AIDS, and children's stories. Her selfless and giving spirit will be sorely missed. She is survived by her older sister, Elaine Bevilacqua, of Washington, D.C., and seven children, Yvette Sheline M.D. of Clayton, Mo., Raymond Sheline M.D. of Carlsbad, Calif., Jonathan Sheline M.D. of Durham, N.C., Hans Sheline M.S. of Sugarland, Texas, Rebecca Socolar M.D. of Chapel Hill, N.C., Martin Sheline M.D. of Atlanta, Ga. and Christian Sheline, Ph.D. of St. Louis, Mo.; and twenty grandchildren.