Bruce Shelley

Bruce Leon Shelley, beloved professor of church history at Denver Seminary, died February 20, 2010, after suffering a stroke. Born in Owensboro, Kentucky on December 20, 1927, he was raised during the Depression years in Evansville, Indiana, and played on his high school basketball team. After high school, he served in the Army in Japan shortly after World War II. While attending Columbia Bible College in South Carolina, he met Mary Harrington and married her in 1952. He then earned a M.Div. degree at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Iowa. He and his family then moved to Colordado to join the faculty as professor of church history at Denver Seminary, where for the next 52 years, he influenced many through his teaching, mentoring, and his books, including the widely read Church History in Plain Language. He is survived by his wife Mary, sister Marjorie Shelley, brother Steve Shelley, children Marshall (Susan) Shelley, David (Lorie) Shelley, and Karen (Matthew) Brandt, and eleven grand-children. Funeral service is at the chapel of Denver Seminary at 2 p.m. February 23. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be directed to the Bruce Shelley Scholarship Fund c/o Denver Seminary.