John Wesley Bethea (affectionately call “Brother” was born September 7, 1939 in Dillon County, South Carolina. He was the fifth of ten children from the union of the late Wesley Bethea and Dorothy Bethea.

John Wesley departed this life on Saturday, January 23, 2021 at Pruitt Health Nursing Home in Dillon, SC.

John Wesley was educated in the Dillon County Schools. The family’s place of worship was Ebenezer Baptist Church. He worked various jobs until failing health. He loved his family and people in general. He never met a stranger.

He was preceded in death by his parents; daughter, Emma Jean McRae Jones; brother, Frank Bethea; sisters, Louise Breeden, Mary Ellen Saylor and Margaret (Margie) Bethea.

He leaves to celebrate his life and mourn his departure a son: Shaun Stewart of New York; four sisters: Inez Guyton of Paterson, NJ; Alice Edge of Elmwood Park, NJ; Geneva Horton Lenoir, NC and Joann (Arlander) Smith of Rowland, NC and one brother, Willie George (Linda) Bethea of Little Rock, SC and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and Pamela Williams (Caretaker) who was like a daughter.