SOUTH PARIS – Sherman Eldon Greenleaf, 75, of Bethel, died Sept. 1, in South Paris after a long illness.

He was born in Bethel on June 6, 1931, the son of Sherman S. and Mabel (Stevens) Greenleaf.

He was a lifelong resident of Bethel, and attended local schools and Gould Academy. He graduated from Higgins Classical Institute in Charleston and New England Institute of Anatomy and Embalming and Funeral Directing in Boston.

He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War in Graves’s registration as a military embalmer stationed in Japan. After his release from the service in 1954, he joined his father in the operation of the Greenleaf Funeral Home. He took over as manager on the death of his father in 1962, and operated the ambulance service for 30 years.

He had also, with his wife, owned and operated the Citgo Service Center and had carried the Lewiston Sun to the dealers and carriers in Gorham and Berlin, N.H., for 20 years and worked for his brother in the electrical business. He was an avid New York Yankees fan.

He married Elizabeth Ann Douglas in Upton in July 1957, and they made their home in Bethel.

He was a charter member of the Bethel Lions Club and was very proud and took great pleasure in being a member of the Lions. He was also a member of Bethel Lodge #97 AF & AM and a past member of the Oxford County Shrine Club Clowns. He was a past member of the American Legion and served as service officer in Bethel for a number of years. He was also a member of the Bethel Historical Society.

He is survived by his wife of Bethel; three sons, Nathan of Fryeburg, Nathanael of South Paris and Douglas of Bethel; two granddaughters, Leora Greenleaf of Bethel and Kayla Greenleaf of Denmark; two grandsons, Bowen Greenleaf and Josh Berket of Lovell; a sister, Arlene Brown of Bethel; and two brothers, Robert and his wife, Anne of Rhode Island and John and his wife, Arlene of Bethel.