Billie Mae Shellem Sorter, 82, died on November 25, 2017, at Gulf Coast Hospital in Ft. Myers, Florida. She was the daughter of the late Dr. Oliver William Shellem and Hattie Mae Rogers Shellem of Denver, NC. She was born on July 3, 1935 and was delivered at home by her father, the town’s doctor.
Billie Mae was a graduate of Rock Springs High School in Denver, and received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Queens College and Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, NC. After graduation she was for several years a nursing instructor at Presbyterian.
She was married to the late Theodore Floyd Sorter. They had one daughter, Annette Nicole. Billie Mae and her daughter have lived in Ft. Myers in recent years.
Billie is survived by daughter Nicole, Nicole’s former husband, Eric Strahan, and grandson Dominic Strahan, all of Ft. Myers; a sister, Betty Shellem Bailey and her husband, Reno, of Charlotte, NC; nephews Brendan Bailey of Apex, N. C.; Kevin Bailey of Hickory, NC; and James of Charlotte.
She is predeceased by two step-sisters, Virginia Bolick and Katharine Smith.

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