Shepard Family Update, December 4, 2009

When you look at your life,

the greatest happinesses

are family happinesses. 

~Joyce Brothers

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from the chilly but beautiful city of San Francisco where Cindy and I are visiting our son Nathan and his wife Chenda on this first Friday of December.

Happy Birthday Patrick! Tomorrow is the 19th birthday of Patrick Joseph Shepard who is the 16th Ggrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard. Pat's grandmother is Maida (Gower) Shepard, and his parents are Darrell and Mary (Medina) Shepard of Kirkland, Washington. Pat works for a retirement facility in the Seattle suburb of Bothell, which is also where he and his girl friend Nicole Haw live. Hard working Pat plans to take tomorrow off and celebrate his birthday with his family and a few friends at his parents home.

The first picture I am including today was taken last month in Anacortes, Washington at Maida Shepard's 85th birthday party -- a gala event that also celebrated her daughter-in-law Pam Shepard's 45th birthday. (Select the picture to see a larger view.) On the far right in the picture are Patrick and Nicole with their little dog Tootsie. Also in the picture, from right to left, next to Patrick are: Barbara Shepard, Chris Shepard, Nathan and Chenda Shepard, Rachel Shepard with boyfriend Brian Miller, birthday girl Maida Shepard, Darrell and Mary (barely visible) Shepard, birthday girl Pam Shepard, Steven Paul Shepard, me, Linda Shepard, Cindy and Gary Shepard, and Russell Shepard.

Pat is one of those four descendants of Will and Bura who I have mentioned before, who were born in 1990. Consider this: Will and Bura have had 45 descendants born in the 93 years since 1916, when their first child Pauline (Shepard) Russell was born. That is an average of less than one every two years. For 4 of their 45 descendants to be born in the year 1990 is something of a anomaly -- a virtual "baby boom" for our modest sized family. The other descendants of Will and Bura born in 1990 are Steven Paul Shepard, Lyndsey Aquiningoc and Courtney Boyd.

The second picture I am including today shows a much younger Patrick. This picture was also taken in the front yard of Eugene and Maida Shepard's home in Anacortes, Washington, but in 1995. With Patrick on the swing is his brother Christopher.

It is hard to believe that we are now into the month of December! Christmas is just three weeks from today. The countdown begins. May your family be a blessing to you as we move rapidly toward the celebration of Christmas.
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Steve