Greg Vandervelde

MESSAGE FROM HIS WIFE, PAMELA: "Greg's passing has shattered my spirit into a million tiny pieces, and at this moment I do not know how I will go on. Greg was the most special human being I have ever known, with the story line of my life -- which has been one tragedy right after another one. He was the answer to everything that pained me. I have suffered from severe clinical depression since I was a teen. I have never felt as wholly supported or totally and completely accepted...and seen in the most positive of ways ever imaginable....cd and all....to the point that I could never imagine truly living without him. He was the reason I didn't mind my heart kept beating and he breathed a love for life into a beaten down soul. I never imagined life without him because To go on without him, I thought was an impossibility. Yet I take what he taught me about myself -- the extremely positive vision he held me in, and I use it as my new identity to go on and survive in a self-love I would never have had without him. Please give those you love a new vision of themselves...a new self-image...so if they lose you, they will carry your love inside them forever in a braver heart, renewed mind, and undefeatable soul. We are here to learn the infinite power of Love."Gregory (Greg) Frank Vandervelde most beloved husband of Pamela McAllister Vandervelde passed away October 9th, 2018 after a year and a half battle with cancer. Greg was born in the old Aiken Hospital on Richland Avenue to Isabel and Vance Vandervelde in 1960. He grew up in Aiken attending both Saint Angela Academy and Aiken High School. He graduated from Midland's Tech and worked as a draftsman and crew leader in the land surveying industry. However, his most profound contributions were as an expert naturalist. Greg loved the outdoors, camping, hiking, and the scientific study of both plants and wild edibles. Their contribution to health and healing were his passion. His knowledge of the human body expert. He collected and sold mushrooms and wild edibles in the Columbia, SC area. Even more Greg was one of the sweetest souls to walk the earth. He formed his own well thought out form of spirituality which was open and inclusive. While he loved Christ as his savior, he did not deny and utilized the powerful tenants of other faiths and grew to be a very self-aware, moral, and deeply thoughtful human being. He loved to share his vast knowledge and was good at seeing only the good in others and accentuating that to them to their benefit. Greg was preceded in death by his father, Vance Duane Vandervelde, his mother, Isabel Ann Reichert, and his brother, Martin A. Vandervelde. Greg sadly leaves behind his dear wife, the love of his life Pamela McAllister Vanderelde, three siblings Rose Vandervelde (Pat), Steven Vandervelde, Paul Vandervelde (Vicki), John E. Vandervelde, and Timothy G. Vandervelde, as well as 9 children: Matthew McAllister, Ea Schuartz (Michael), Nathaniel Dickson, Christlyn Lee (Erik), Annie Dickson-Vandervele, Robert Vandervelde McAllister, Amelia Vandervele-McAllister, Francis Dickson-Vandervelde, and John Vandervelde-McAllister. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to his final arrangements and widow's fund through GoFundMe located on his wife, Pamela McAllister Vandervelde's Facebook page. Donations may also be made directly to his wife at 122 Old Hall Road, Irmo, SC 29063.SHELLHOUSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 924 HAYNE AVE., AIKEN, SC To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Greg Vandervelde, please visit our flower store.