Another Year Older, Sept. 9

The great tragedy of life
is not that people perish,
but that they cease to love.

~W. Somerset Maugham

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from beautiful Anacortes, Washington, where Cindy and I are visiting my mom Maida and all our kinfolk in this part of the world.

Maida, Linda, Gene, Steve and Gary, 1953

Today is the day that I, and the state of California, take our turn at growing another year older. This fine state of ours is 160 years and going strong. I am considerably younger. When I was born California was still 2 years from celebrating her centennial.

The first picture I am including today was taken in 1953 in San Diego and shows Maida and Eugene Shepard with the first 3 of what would eventually be 6 children. I am at the bottom left at 5 years old (don't you love the butterfly collar?), older brother Gary is on the lower right (looking like an angel) and Linda is in her father's arms (ever so stoic).

These days Cindy and I spend a good amount of our time traveling. One of our favorite destinations is San Francisco, the home of our son Nathan and his wife Chenda, and, of course, their baby Preslea. We just concluded a wonderful long weekend with Preslea while her mom and dad were off galavanting on a well deserved holiday weekend.

Steve and Preslea

The second picture I am including shows our granddaughter Preslea and me in a picture taken by Grannie Cindy just a few days ago. Preslea is now 5 months old and the pride and joy of her parents and us.

Happy Birthday Kelly! This coming Sunday, Sept 12, is the birthday of my niece Kelly Shepard Sauvage of Weatherford, Texas. She is wife to James, mother to Nate and Kyle, and the youngest daughter of my brother Gary Shepard. She is one of the Ggrandchildren of Will and Bura Shepard.  

30 something Kelly with sister Kerri

Kelly wrote me to say: "I stay busy with my full time job at the high school and taking care of two active boys. Nathaniel is in 2nd grade and Kyle is in 1st. Both boys have signed up to play little league again this fall. Between practices and games for them, I’m sure I’ll be running crazy. James is going to referee football again this year and work his real job, usually about 12 hours a day. Which leaves lots of time for me and the boys to hang out together. We love going to the lake, water parks and of course Chuck E Cheese. I am still a diehard Chargers and Padres fan! Like any good mother, I have made my children fans of all teams from San Diego. Kyle is my sports child and loves to watch the Padres games with me. He is looking forward to watching the Chargers play this fall and loves Phillip Rivers. Every once in a while I get together with my sister Kerri, and have a crazy, fun time or catch a “chick flick” with my friend at work."
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Steve