PRINTER'S NO. 3260
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 472
Session of
2024
INTRODUCED BY LEADBETER, JUNE 6, 2024
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
JUNE 6, 2024
A RESOLUTION
1 Extending sincere condolences on the death of the Honorable Kent
2 D. Shelhamer, Sr., a former member from North Centre
3 Township, Columbia County.
4 WHEREAS, The House of Representatives commends the faithful
5 service of Mr. Shelhamer, who died May 31, 2024, at 99 years of
6 age; and
7 WHEREAS, Mr. Shelhamer's legislative record, including
8 restoring funding for agricultural research, reflected the
9 important relationships he built as a rural lawmaker and fruit
10 grower at Shelhamer Farms, North Centre Township, which he
11 purchased from his father in 1948; and
12 WHEREAS, First elected to the House of Representatives, 109th
13 District, in an upset victory in 1964, Mr. Shelhamer represented
14 Columbia and Montour Counties from 1965 through 1976; and
15 WHEREAS, Mr. Shelhamer then served in Governor Milton Shapp's
16 cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture, notably conducting whole-
17 agency meetings and addressing Johnstown flood relief and Farm
18 Show Complex and Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory renovations;
 1 and
2 WHEREAS, Mr. Shelhamer contributed his energies and expertise
3 to the Columbia County Extension Service, the Columbia County
4 Farmers Association and, as Superintendent of Agriculture, the
5 Bloomsburg Fair; and
6 WHEREAS, Mr. Shelhamer further contributed to his community
7 through his local congregations, Ebenezer United Methodist
8 Church, North Centre Township, and Shiloh Bible Church, Almedia,
9 and as a life member of the Orangeville Fire Company and
10 founding member of the Orangeville Sportsmen's Club; and
11 WHEREAS, Mr. Shelhamer's exemplary record of service includes
12 his work as a sergeant in the United States Army Corps of
13 Engineers, European Theater of Operations, near the end of World
14 War II; and
15 WHEREAS, Born in the Borough of Orangeville, Columbia County,
16 on November 30, 1924, Mr. Shelhamer was a son of the late Lester
17 S. and Bertha Howell Shelhamer and an Orangeville High School
18 graduate; and
19 WHEREAS, Mary J. Holmes Shelhamer, Mr. Shelhamer's wife of 73
20 years, died in 2022 at 100 years of age; and
21 WHEREAS, Their children, Kent D. Shelhamer, Jr., Rebecca J.
22 Knorr and Cindy E. Sides, grandchildren and great-grandchildren
23 survive Mr. Shelhamer; and
24 WHEREAS, Their children, Steven L. Shelhamer and Carol L.
25 Wall, and three sisters preceded him in death; and
26 WHEREAS, Mr. Shelhamer is being interred at Ebenezer Cemetery
27 in North Centre Township with full military honors; therefore be
28 it
29 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives extend sincere
30 condolences on the death of the Honorable Kent D. Shelhamer,
20240HR0472PN3260 - 2 -
1 Sr., a former member from North Centre Township, Columbia
2 County; and be it further
3 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to
4 Mr. Shelhamer's family.
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