A father carries pictures
where his money used to be.
~Steve Martin
Happy Father's Day! This weekend is an occasion to honor all fathers in our midst, and to celebrate our own fathers. We also remember men who have had a fatherly impact on our lives. I hope all of you can celebrate with your father this weekend in person. If not I hope you can remember your father with great fondness. Few relationships are more important to our well being than the relationship we have (had) with our father. Theirs is an influence that will impact us for our entire lives.
The following is a music video that celebrates 100 years of Fathers in our family. This collection ranges from some Davis ancestors in Indiana in 1908 through some Shepard and Gower kinfolk in the 1920s and on through the decades with images of Russell, Boyd, Harris, Ortiz and Clark fathers, including some images from recent months.
Memorable Fathers. My own father Eugene Shepard (1921-2003) was a man I remember with great respect and honor. All my siblings would echo the same thing. I also remember my two grandfathers, Leroy Gower and William Shepard. Both of them I had the great privilege of knowing and relating to for many of my early years. The first 23 years of my life were spent in San Diego when my father and both grandfathers lived there. I consider myself fortunate to have had such a wonderful father, and to have been close to both of my grandfathers.
Like all of you, Cindy and I are proud of our fathers and honor them both as we remember their lives, their influence and their legacy on this weekend of Father's Day 2020.
On this father's day weekend I am also remembering my father-in-law Joe Harris (1922-1999), a man of faith and integrity, who had a positive impact on my life for many years. As the father of my wife Cindy, Joe Harris was very much like my own father Gene Shepard. They were very different from each other in many ways, but it is uncanny how the span of their lives was remarkably similar. Both men were born in small towns in Oklahoma in the early 1920s, both were from families who migrated to California and settled in San Diego around the time of World War II. Both served in the United States Navy during the war. Both had wives who were raised in Oklahoma, while both had children who were raised in San Diego. And both were devoted church leaders as were their wives. For many years both men were Elders of Church of Christ congregations in San Diego; my father at the Linda Vista Church of Christ, and Joe at the Allied Gardens Church of Christ. Both men died within just a few years of each other, Cindy's dad in 1999 and my dad in 2003.
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| Paula Harris and daughter Cindy Shepard |
Remembering Paula Hicks Harris (1923-2018). This post celebrates fathers, but what would we fathers be without the spouses in our lives? So I must mention a particular woman who is being remembered this month. Cindy's mother Paula Hicks Harris (1923-2018) was the wife of Joe Harris, one of the fathers mentioned above. She died at 94 years old on June 2, just two years ago. She was a lovely lady who lived a full life and is remembered for her faith, her fortitude, and her love of family.
Poor People's Campaign. As a way of standing with all those who support racial justice, I invite you to consider the Poor People's Campaign by selecting this link. It is led by nationally known minister William Barber, who serves Greenleaf Christian Church in North Carolina, a congregation of the Campbell Stone tradition with which many of us are familiar.
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Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)
(he, him, his)
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