DeWitt B. Sheffield

1932 - 2016

DeWitt B. Sheffield

INDIANAPOLIS - The Reverend DeWitt B. Sheffield, a retired minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), passed away peacefully following a long battle with Frontotemporal Dementia, on Wednesday morning, November 16, 2016 at the Assisted Living Memory Care Center at Robin Run Village, Indianapolis, Indiana.

DeWitt was born April 6, 1932 in Miller County, Georgia to Tom Black and Gladys (Roland) Sheffield. He grew up there with his brother James (Joan) Sheffield, sisters: Jeanette (Charles) Jordan, Wynell Williams, and Delory (William) Blackmon.

He attended Georgia Public Schools and graduated from Miller County High School in 1951. While in high school he was active with football, baseball, drama and debate. He served five years in the Georgia National Guard, attended Berry College in Mount Berry Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens in 1959. He spent time teaching and coaching before completing his Master of Divinity degree at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington Kentucky, in 1964. He spent the next forty-two years serving churches in Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Indiana. The valued friendships and church family established during those years are beyond measure.

He is survived by his college sweetheart and wife of sixty-two years, Jean Mitchell Sheffield from Grady County Georgia; their children, Jim (Marolyn) Sheffield, Kay (Randy) Swoveland, DeAnne (Richard) Whittington, Joe (Judy) Sheffield; sixteen grandchildren, and twenty-one great-grandchildren. In addition to his siblings, his brother-in-law, Alvin (Faye) Mitchell, many nieces, nephews, extended family and friends (notably the "Hardee Boys" in Cairo) also morn his passing.

DeWitt was preceded in death by his parents, his mother and father-in-law, Joe P and Alice Mitchell; sister-in-law, Christine Maxwell and her husband, Durrell Maxwell; brother-in-law, Charles Jordan; nephews, Andy Mitchell and Allen Maxwell.

A celebration of life and interment will take place at Spring Hill Christian Church, Grady County Georgia.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in DeWitt's memory to Berry College, class of 1954, Endowed Scholarship Fund PO Box 490069 Mount Berry, Ga 30149.

The family is grateful to The Meeks Mortuary, Muncie, Indiana and Clark Funeral Home, Cairo, Georgia for assistance with funeral arrangements, and to those whose kindness and prayers God has used to comfort our hearts.