DEXTER -- Funeral service for Joseph C. Shelden of Dexter will be held at 1 p.m. today at Rainey Funeral Chapel, with the Rev. Earl Reinhart officiating. Burial will be in Dexter Cemetery.

Shelden, 85, died Wednesday, Aug. 20, 1997, at Dexter Memorial Hospital.

He was born June 23, 1912, at Swinton, son of Fred and Nora Goodman Shelden. He and Vurlia Beck were married March 17, 1933, at Swinton.

Shelden had been a maintenance foreman with Missouri State Highway Department. He was a member of Dexter Masonic Lodge 532, El Camino Council 52, Cryptic Masons, and Kingsway Chapter 144 Royal Arch Masons.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Joseph Shelden of Springfield, Ga.; a daughter, Donna Hatchel of Dexter; a sister, Kathleen Cooper of Bloomfield; three grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; a stepgrandson; four great-stepgrandchildren; and a great-great-stepgrandchild.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, and a sister.