A New Book, A Beautiful One! September 9, 2015

No, this is not the beginning

of a new chapter in my life;

this is the beginning of a new book!

Look, it is the first page!

And it is a beautiful one!

~ C. Joybell C.

Happy Birthday this coming Saturday, Sept 12, to my niece Kelly Shepard Sauvage. She, husband James, and sons Nate and Kyle live in Weatherford, Texas. She is the youngest child of my brother Gary Shepard and Jackie Perry. Born and raised in San Diego, Kelly has lived in Texas for nearly 15 years now.

Speaking of 15 years, last month James and Kelly celebrated 15 years of marriage. Congratu- lations on this special anniversary to the two of them, and best wishes to Kelly for a very happy birthday! This first picture shows James and Kelly when they were on a family vacation last month in Destin, Florida.

Kelly: Things are all good here. School started a couple weeks ago so it's been a little hectic. Nate is in his first year of junior high and Kyle is in his last year of elementary school. I'm still working at the high school and its been super busy. Kyle's baseball season is getting underway so it's about to get even more busy. Between my two boys and I always doing something, and James working out of town for two weeks at a time, we stay pretty busy. I love it though. Hope everyone is good on your end. Thanks for thinking of me and I hope you have a great birthday too.

67 and Counting. September 9 is the day I was born in 1948 here in San Diego. Today, my wife Cindy and I live in San Diego, where we were both raised, where we graduated High School, and where we were married. We lived in Northern California for many years until we retired 7 years ago and returned to our home town. We live not far from our son Nathan, his wife Chenda and their 3 children in the San Carlos Community of San Diego.

A Scholar's Career Begins.This second picture, taken earlier this summer at our home in San Diego, shows me with our oldest grandchild Preslea. The biggest news in our part of the family these days is that yesterday Preslea started school. It was her first day of Kindergarten!

Never-Before-Seen Picture. This being my birthday it seems appropriate to continue my summer theme of sharing never-before-seen pictures, but in this case with a picture that includes me. I have never shown the following picture before in this blog, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I very little history with most of the people pictured here. 

I do know that it was taken just about 60 years ago, in the mid-1950s, in Fresno, California. And I do know that it includes me in the lower right (the little guy in the striped shirt, with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face). It also includes three of the most influential male figures in my life at the time: my older brother Gary (barely visible behind me), my father Eugene Shepard (standing behind us with arms crossed) and my Grandfather Leroy Gower (to the right of my father, in glasses).

This picture was taken when we were visiting my mother's cousin Imogene Hutson Self and her husband Olen Self who are pictured on the left (Olen is in the back on the left, in the white shirt; Imogene is to the right of him and only partially visible.). My mom tells me that another cousin of hers in this picture is Pearl Hutson Pfost, the tall woman on the far left.

These folks, like my parents and both sets of my grandparents, were transplanted Okies who came to California in the 1940s. The people pictured here are descended from my Great Grandparents, Samuel Pickens Shannon and his wife Finetta Dearien Shannon, of Mountain View, Arkansas. 
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Steve Shepard