Rest In Peace, Mom
Opal Regina Shelley
July 15th, 1923 – May 2nd, 2012
Born Opal Regina Stottlemeyer, on State Street, in York, PA, on Sunday, July 15th, 1923. Her Father was Marcellus Cleveland Stottlemeyer; her Mother was Catherine Yinger Stottlemeyer. Opal lived from age 5 through 18 years at 44 East Ninth Avenue, in North York, PA. She graduated from North York High School in 1941, and as an R.N. (Registered Nurse) from The Jefferson Medical College School of Nursing, in Philadelphia, PA, in April 1945.
While awaiting her commission in the USANC (US Army Nurse Corps), Opal joined the York VNA (Visiting Nurse Association) as a Visiting Nurse. Opal received her commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, on April 10th, 1945. Opal was stationed at Woodrow Wilson General Hospital in Staunton, VA, from May 1945 to March 1946.
Opal married John Donald Maynard Shelley, born April 17th, 1924, in Emigsville, PA. His Father was Charles Busey Shelley; His Mother was Amy Olive McKinley Shelley. He attended public school in Emigsville, which was a 3-room brick building on Broad Street. John also attended North York High School and graduated in 1940. John worked as an Arms & Munitions Inspector for the Philadelphia Ordnance District, US Army at (now defunct) York Safe & Lock Co, on Loucks Road, in York, PA, where 37mm and 90mm anti-tank guns were being made for the British Forces, then in South Africa. During World War II, from March 27th, 1943 to December 2nd, 1945, John served with the 101st Combat Engineers, 26th Infantry Division, 3rd Army (Patton Armored) in the European Theater. He received the Eastern European Ribbon w/ 4 Clusters for Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, Central Europe, along with the Purple Heart Medal for wounds he received in The Battle of The Bulge, and the Bronze Star Medal for Valor. John graduated from Penn State in 1950 with a BS Degree in Chemical Engineering and did subsequent graduate work at Clark University, Rutgers University, Penn State, Columbia and NYU. He worked for Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation (now Honeywell Corp) and affiliated companies (General Chemical Corp), primarily in sales and marketing. He retired in 1989 from General
Opal, still in the USANC Service, and John, recently discharged from US Army, were married on February 1st, 1946, in the Chapel of The Presbyterian Church, in Wayneboro, VA. Opal, upon her discharge from the USANC, resumed her Nursing career and was professionally licensed in PA (1945), in NJ (1953) and in Illinois (1961), as an RN. She retired from Nursing at Morristown Memorial Hospital as Senior Staff Nurse, in 1989.
Opal and John lived in State College, PA; Syracuse and Cazenovia, NY; Huntington, WVa; Arlington Heights, Ill; Westfield and Convent Station, NJ. They returned to York, PA in 1990 and in their "retirement", became affiliated with their son John's business in 1990, as they founded John Shelley's Garden Center & Nursery, Inc, in Felton, PA, in March of 1991.
Memorial ontributions for Opal Regina Shelley, may be made to The Wellspan VNA Hospice, 540 South George Street, P.O. Box 2404, York, PA 17405-9892.
Lord's Prayer/ 23rd Psalm for Opal R. Shelley
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,
He leadeth me beside the still waters,
He restoreth my soul,
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For Thou art with me,
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,
Thou annointest my head with oil,
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord, forever.