Dr. Ben Gordon Shappley, 73, died Wednesday, January 08, 2014 after a long illness. Born in Coffeeville, Mississippi, May 26, 1940, Ben lived in several southern states prior to entering Davidson College in 1958. He graduated from Davidson in 1962 and attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine, graduating in 1966. He completed his pediatric residency at UVA, serving as chief resident 1968-1969. Ben served as a major in the United States Army, and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his military service at the Redstone Arsenal Hospital in Alabama. He moved to Greenville to join Greenville Pediatrics Services in 1971.
As a partner at Greenville Pediatrics for three decades, he appreciated the opportunity to work with and care for his patients and their families. He received numerous commendations for his work in pediatrics, and served in many leadership positions in the medical field, but it was his life’s work as a clinical pediatrician that was his passion and a source of great professional and personal satisfaction.
Friendships formed at Davidson and at the University of Virginia enriched his life, as did those made in the forty-two years he lived in Greenville. He valued his membership in the Greenville Evening Rotary Club and being part of Rotary’s campaign to eradicate polio worldwide. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, an avid University of Virginia fan, a regular in Greenville Country Club’s senior golf group, a loving husband and father, a loyal friend, and a doting grandfather.
He is survived by Joan, his wife of forty-eight years; three daughters Cate Shappley Mason and husband Dave of Carrboro, Nell Shappley Mason and husband Jeff of Edenton, and Anna Shappley Ogle and husband John of Greenville; brother Ned Baxter Shappley of Lexington KY; sister Lucy Marshall Shappley of Washington NC; and his treasured grandchildren Evans Byrne Mason, Wilson Sayle Mason, Lucy Grace Ogle, Caroline Baxter Ogle, and John Marshall Ogle III. He was preceded in death by his parents Ned Baxter Shappley and Frances Sayle Shappley and by his daughter Cara Sayle Shappley.
A visitation will be held at Wilkerson Funeral Home on Friday from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church on Saturday at 2:00pm.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Rotary Foundation, PO Box 1565, Winterville, NC 28590; the Salvation Army, PO Box 30280, Greenville, NC 27833; the North Carolina Pediatric Society Foundation c/o Steve Shore, 1100 Wake Forest Road, Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27604; or to the charity of one’s choice.