Paul Betsill Obituary

Paul Betsill COLUMBIA, SC - Paul Augustus Betsill, son of the late Russell Lee Betsill and Bertha Bodie Betsill, was born in Enoree, South Carolina, on January 24, 1924. At the age of four, his parents moved to Woodruff, South Carolina, where he received his grammar and high school education, graduating from high school in 1941. In September of 1941, he entered Clemson College where he was a student when World War II began. Following this year, he was drafted into the Army, serving in the 108th Artillery Battalion of the 28th Infantry Division. He was the recipient of five major battle stars. Following his discharge from the Army in October of 1945, the following spring, he entered Wofford College to prepare for the ministry in the Methodist Church. Following graduation in 1949 he entered the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. In September of that year, while a student at Emory he served as an Assistant Minister of the Druid Hills Methodist Church in Atlanta. March 18, 1950, he married Katherine Bauknight whom he met in the summer of 1947 when he was youth minister at Emma Gray Methodist Church in Woodruff for the summer. Her father was a new Methodist minister at another Methodist church in Woodruff. Bishop Arthur Moore, presiding Bishop of the North Georgia Conference, assigned Reverend Betsill to McKendree Methodist Church as Minister during his senior year at Emory. After graduating from Emory in 1952, Reverend and Mrs. Betsill returned to South Carolina where he was ordained Elder in the Methodist Church and assigned to the Starr Charge of the Anderson District. During his years as a pastoral minister, Reverend Betsill served the following church in the South Carolina Methodist Conference: (1) Starr Charge; (2) Trinity, Honea Path; (3) Trinity, Fountain Inn; (4) Highland Park, Florence; (5) Manning United Methodist, Manning; (6) Bethany, James Island; (7) First United Methodist, Isle of Palms. During those years he served on the following boards and committees of the South Carolina Methodist Conference: (1) Leadership with Conference Youth Programs; (2) Board of Social Concerns; (3) Committee on Ordination; (4) University Wesley Foundation; (5) Board of Evangelism; and (6) The Greenwood Methodist Home. In 1953, he was one of 120 Methodist Ministers selected in the United States to hold a nationwide revival in Cuba. In 1954, Reverend Betsill was endorsed as a Chaplain in the South Carolina National Guard, later transferring to the United States Army Reserves. He retired from the Army Chaplaincy in 1977 as a Lt. Colonel. Reverend Betsill was Chief of Chaplains for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona from 1976 until 1992. Retiring in 1992 Reverend Betsill returned to South Carolina to become chaplain at The Oaks, Orangeburg, S.C, until 1998. Reverend Betsill was a Mason and was affiliated with the Lions Club, Civitan Club and Golden Kiwanis Club. He is survived by his daughters, Anna Paige DuRant, her husband, George Warren DuRant, their children, George Rutledge DuRant, his wife, Margaret Fawcett DuRant, their child, William Rutledge DuRant, Paige DuRant Gregg and her husband, Walter Boyd Gregg, III and their children, Walter Boyd Gregg, IV and Emmie Paige Gregg, Paul Julian DuRant and his wife, Meredith Moring DuRant. He is also survived by his daughter, Paula Amanlou, her son, MoPaul Amanlou and her daughter, Pari Timbs-Amanlou and her husband, Jordan Timbs and their daughter, Havana Timbs-Amanlou. Reverend Betsill's wife, Katherine Bouknight Betsill, preceded him in death on September 15, 1999. A sister, Mary Julia Clinton and a brother, William Russell Betsill who was killed in World War II, preceded him also. Services will be held at Trenholm Road United Methodist Church Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at 2 p.m.; The Rev. Wayne Horne, Senior Minister, and The Reverend Mollie Bame, Associate Minister, officiating and homily, Chaplain James Mowry, San Diego, California, eulogy, and grandson, Rutledge DuRant will give witness to his life. Interment will follow in Rosemont Cemetery, Newberry, South Carolina. Visitation is Monday, March 28, 2011, 6-8 p.m. Dunbar Funeral Home Devine Street. Memorials may be made to Trenholm Road United Methodist Church, 3401 Trenholm Road, Columbia, SC 29204, Wofford College, 429 North Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 or The Methodist Oaks, 1000 Methodist Oaks Drive, Orangeburg, SC 29115. Please sign the online guestbook, www.dunbarfunerals.com. Visit our guestbook at www.postandcourier.com/ deaths