Shepard Family Update, Aug 29

Hello Shepard Family Members and Friends,

Greetings on this Labor Day weekend! I hope all of you are able to be with some family or friends this weekend to celebrate the last holiday weekend of the summer season.

I am including two family pictures. The first is an old one (click on the picture to see a larger view) that Elmer and Thelma (two of the people in the picture) helped me to identify. This is what Thelma Boyd wrote:

"I just cracked up laughing when I saw this picture. I haven't seen that in forever. It was taken at Aunt Sadie's house in Elmwood, Oklahoma. I don't know the reason we were all there. The people: (from the left) Pat (Elmer) Getz and son Norman (the boy in front). Pat was married to my cousin, Alberta (Aunt Sadie Pruett's oldest daughter). Maybe Sadie is taking the picture. She's not in it. Then Glenn Barker (married to my cousin Gayle, younger daughter of aunt Sadie). Then Elmer with me (in front), Pauline holding Beverly, Eugene, Gayle with Rex (in front), Gram and Aunt Sadie (on the far right). Wasn't I cute? Just kidding, but I do think all of us little ones did look so cute. That made my day. Thank you!!!!!"

The heavy coats but bright sunshine suggest this picture was taken in the fall, maybe around Thanksgiving. Beverly, the baby in the middle, looks to be a few months old and was born in Two Buttes, Colorado in April, 1939. Will and Bura Shepard did not move their family to San Diego until September, 1940, so evidently the family was visiting in Elmwood, (Beaver County) Oklahoma. That's where Will Shepard's sister Sadie and her family lived, and where all of them had lived, until 1928.

Eugene and Elmer have "TB" on their shirts, which stands for Two Buttes, the tiny town in the Southeast corner of Colorado, where the family lived from 1928 to 1940. Eugene graduated from high school there in the spring of 1939 (just a few months before this picture was taken), and Elmer three years before that. Two Buttes was only about 150 miles from Beaver County, so it was not very far and the family went back for visits occasionally (when gas was only about 10 cents a gallon!).

The picture above is actually very good technically, compared to a lot of photos taken that long ago. It does a great job of capturing the mood and the feel of the people at that time. The family members have a tough look about them, even with their smiles. It definitely has the feel of a farming group that has seen some difficult times. It is a timely picture for this labor day weekend as it clearly shows that our family was a hard working bunch; even at family gatherings, overalls were common!

Happy 18th Birthday TODAY to Lyndsey Aquiningoc in Weatherford, Texas! She is the daughter of Kerri Aquiningoc,the granddaughter of Gary Shepard, and the oldest great granddaughter of Maida Shepard. The other picture I am sending shows Lyndsey with her mother Kerri and grandfather Gary, taken at the family reunion last month.
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Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 22, 2008

Hello Shepard family members and friends,

The Shepard family news is coming to you this week from Las Vegas, Nevada, where Cindy and I are spending a few days with Nathan from San Francisco, and Jerry and Cathrina Clark from Lubbock, Texas.

I received an email recently from Kim that she talked to Dane Shepard who expressed interest in hosting a Shepard family reunion in Oklahoma next year. (Thanks so much, Dane!) He'd like to know when would be best for everyone. Would earlier in the summer be better or would you prefer later in the summer closer to Labor Day? Or would mid July like this summer be your preference? Please let us know by sending an email to me or to Dane or to both of us. We know it's a year off and most of you probably don't even know if you can make it, but if you can give us some idea of what time of summer is best, it will help in putting something together.

The first of the two pictures I am sending this week shows Mary and Darrell Shepard and their 3 children, Patrick, Rachel and Christopher (go Chargers!). It was taken at the 1995 family reunion in Anacortes. (click on the picture to see a larger view.)

The other picture was taken in May this year in Maui, Hawaii after Cindy, Barbara and I had driven the looong and winding road to the small historic town of Hana.

Our sympathies are extended to Mary Shepard whose mother Barbara Medina passed away Aug. 8 in Florida. She had been sick for a long time, but it is always difficult when one's parent dies. Our prayers and best wishes are with you, Mary.
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Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 15, 2008

Hello Shepard family members and friends,

Happy 15th Birthday tomorrow to Linda Mae Dawn Shepard of Anacortes, Washington! Linda's was one of the smiling teenage faces at the family reunion last month and is the youngest grandchild of Maida Shepard. Her parents are Russ and Pam Shepard. See a recent picture of Linda.

Next Thursday would have been the 58th birthday of her aunt and namesake Linda Rae Shepard, who was a sister/daughter/wife to many of us, and who died in a car accident in 1971.

Our deepest condolences are extended to Jane Brock whose father Quay Hodge, passed away earlier this week in Lubbock, Texas at 92. You may recall he fell and broke his hip earlier in the summer. His memorial service was today in Lubbock.

My apologies to Nathan for last week's comments about global warming, which he said, "Made me sound like a Republican!" If you know Nathan, you know that the only thing worse would be to make him sound like a Democrat. (shut up, Steve!)

Thelma Boyd won the prize for being the first to solve the brain teaser I included in last week's family email. The question related to the July 28 birthdays of Barbara Shepard and Jeff Clark, who were born ONE year apart. They were both born in a YEAR that starts with 5 (forget the "19" part of the year), but only one is now at an AGE that starts with 5. What years were they born? The answer is 1958 and 1959. Thelma wins a free CD of the photo presentation that was made at the family reunion, which includes hundreds of old and new family pictures. Congratulations, Thelma!

I am including two family pictures with this email. The first one was taken on my college graduation day in Abilene, Texas, May, 1970. In the picture are Gene Shepard with Barbara in front of him; mom and me in our graduation gowns; and Linda and Jerry Clark, just a few months before they got married. Do any of you recognize the fellow on the right? He was one of my High School buddies and a member of the Linda Vista church youth group. His name is Terry Marren, and he is now a District Court Judge in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The other picture is of Jeremy Ortiz whose birthday was this past Tuesday. He is with his young son Damian, Kim Clark's youngest grandchild. Thanks, Kim, for sending this picture that was taken just last month.
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Steve

Shepard Family Update, 080808

Dear Shepard family members and friends,

What a pleasant summer this is turning out to be! And not just up our way in the mountains. Down the hill, in the Valley and the Bay Area, triple digit days have been few and far between this year. Nathan would say, "See the Global Warming scare is NOT all it is touted to be!" I would bite my tongue in face of such political comments, and simply appreciate the fact that the weather has been relatively pleasant.

But from what I hear, that is not true for all of you. Blessings on you if you are having to endure hot, muggy weather. However, everything is relative when it comes to weather. I talked to Mom in Washington a few days ago and said, "We are having cool weather here." She replied, "We are having hot weather here." Turns out we were both talking about temperatures in the 80s!

080808: On this day 5 years ago my dad, Eugene Shepard, died. On this day 86 years ago, Cindy's dad, Joe Harris, was born. This is also the day the China Summer Olympics start. And it is a day the casinos claim is the luckiest day of the year. (Yeah, right.) It is also "the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

I received some more pictures of the July family reunion this past week from Barbara. Thanks so much! Nathan invites any of you to visit the online location for his pictures from the reunion.

I am including two family pictures for your viewing pleasure. The first one is a picture Barbara took at the family reunion and shows Kim and Jeff Clark from Blue Springs Missouri. The picture also shows the words that were on the wall of the social hall where we met, that spoke eloquently of our time together: "Welcome home... one in Christ Jesus," from Galatians 3.

The other is a picture of Eugene Shepard and Joe Harris (click on the picture to see a larger view of it) and their respective daughters, on what was among the happiest days of their lives. Joe is walking Cindy down the aisle of the La Mesa Church of Christ in December, 1968. Gene is walking Linda down the aisle of the Linda Vista Church of Christ in August, 1970.

I failed to mention in my last email that early last week we had two birthdays in our family. Happy Birthday to Barbara Shepard and Jeff Clark! They both share July 28 as their day of birth. Not the same year, but within 1 year of each other!

Here's a brain teaser for you: Barbara and Jeff both were born in a YEAR that starts with 5, but only one now is at an AGE that starts with 5.

Figure it out. The first one to do so and email me wins a prize.

Also Happy Birthday to Jeremy Ortiz, Kim Clark's older son, in El Cajon, Ca. He turns 28 this coming Tuesday.
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Steve

Shepard Family Update, Aug 1

Dear Shepard family members and friends,

Hello from California where the summer is working its way through a pretty pleasant stage here, especially for this first day of August. We are still mulling over the experience of being together in Washington two weeks ago for the family reunion and hoping that all of us who came from out of state made it home okay, especially Jeff and Kim Clark who drove all the way from Missouri.

Last week I had no more than made a request for some reunion pictures when here came several pictures by email! Thanks to Jerry Clark for the wonderful photos he took, two of which are attached to this posting.

The first one is a picture of Gary Shepard and his two daughters and 3 of his grandkids. On the left is Gary's youngest Kelly Sauvage. Her son Nate is in front on the right. Next to Kelly is Mandi Aquiningoc whose mom Kerri is in the soccer shirt. On the right is Kerri's older daughter Lyndsey. Everyone in the picture except Gary lives in Weatherford, Texas. Not in the picture are Gary's son Jason Shepard, and his other grandchild Kyle Sauvage, both of who were unable to be at the reunion.

The other picture (click on the picture to enlarge it) shows all 29 of us who attended the family reunion. Shall I try to name them all? Okay here goes... Seated in chairs are me (Steve) and Cindy, Kim Clark (husband Jeff is on the far back left), Vicki Gower, Maida and Gary. Down in front are Linda and Cindy. Back row from left to right are Patrick, Nicole, Jeff, Rachel, Christopher, Amber, Samantha, Kelly, Mary, Lyndsey, Nate, Darrell, Mandi, Nathan, Barbara, Kerri, Steven, Pam, Russ, Cathrina and Jerry. Thanks to Jerry for looking so calm and cool after setting his camera and rushing to get in the picture!

What about next year? Can we plan a date when the family can gather again? I have asked some of you if it would be possible to plan a gathering somewhere in the Texas/New Mexico/Oklahoma/Missouri part of the country. That way those of you who live back there would not have so far to go, and those of us here on the west coast would have the farther distance to travel. Would some of you give it some thought and let us know? I have found that if you can plan something by Christmas it is usually enough time to get the word out.

Do you miss seeing an OLD family picture in these postings? Me, too. Maybe next week.
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Steve