Dr. Eleazer V. Benenhaley

North Augusta, SC – Funeral Services for Dr. Eleazer V. Benenhaley, 88, who entered into rest August 29, 2023, will be conducted from the Sweetwater Baptist Church, Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Dr. Paul W. Noe officiating. Interment will be in the Sweetwater Cemetery. Eleazer was born in Sumter County, South Carolina to Walter and Hallie Hood Benenhaley. He accepted his Lord at the age of fourteen and was baptized as a member of the Long Branch Baptist Church. He became a Sunday School teacher and a deacon in that church. He was licensed to preach by Long Branch in 1955. He was a 10th grade drop out when the Lord called him to preach. He was married to Nina, and they had three children. He, along with Nina, Clayton, Wilbur and Tim, moved to Kentucky to attend the Clear Creek Bible School (now – Bible College). Eleazer graduated with honors. The President of the school said to him, “if it had not been for your wife, you would have never made it.” He received a four-year scholarship to attend Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky. After teaching school for three years, he enrolled in the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he received the Master of Divinity Degree. In 1979, he received the Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1990, he was elected to the Delta Epsilon Chi Honor Society of the American Association of Bible Colleges in recognition of his outstanding achievement. Dr. Benenhaley went on to pastor in Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. He retired from the Sweetwater Baptist Church, then served as the interim pastor at Silvercrest Baptist Church and Red Hill Baptist Church. He held leadership positions both in the State and Local Associations. He would love to be remembered as a dedicated Christian, loving husband and father. At his retirement celebration, Rev. Larry Holland, a seminary roommate, said, “Ben is a man of integrity. When I first met him, I found that he loved the Lord, his family and his church.” All who knew him well, recognized that he was a man who uncompromisingly preached the Bible and pastored his family and church! He loved Nina, his boys, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Nina Lee Hood Benenhaley and his two sons, Clayton and Wilbur Benenhaley. Survivors include his son, Tim (Tammy) Benenhaley; two daughters-in-law, Deborah Benenhaley and Cathy Benenhaley; six grandchildren, Alexis (Joel) Black, Meredith (James) Taylor, Matthew (Paige) Benenhaley, Breanna (Paul) Jeanmougin, Brooke (Gage) Scott, Blair Benenhaley; two step-grandchildren, Amanda Loehr, Jason Loehr; eleven great-grandchildren. Honorary Pallbearers will be Bobby Gillespie, Chic Morris, Steve Byrd, Rocky McKie, Billy McBride, and Wayne Raiford. Pallbearers will be David Hood, Tim Bays, Perry Benenhaley, Dean Benenhaley, Henry Benenhaley and Jim Reece. The family will receive friends at the church Thursday evening from 6 to 8. Memorials may be made to Sweetwater Baptist Church, 198 Sweetwater Road, North Augusta, SC 29860.

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Dr. Eleazer V. Benenhaley

September 21, 1934 - August 29, 2023