Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Future, September 23, 2016

The past gives you an identity
and the future holds the promise of salvation. 

Both are illusions.

~Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now)

95 years ago this month my Gower Grandparents were married. On September 29, 1921 Leroy Gower and Nola Shannon said their vows and began a relationship that would result in a wonderful family that today is spread over a large part of the US. They were married in the town of Timbo, in Stone County, Arkansas while living in the nearby town of New Nata, 9 miles west of Mountain View, Arkansas. At the time Leroy was 22 and Nola was just 18.

The first picture shows Leroy and Nola at their 50th anniversary celebration which took place in 1971. The location was the family home of their son-in-law and daughter, Eugene and Maida Gower Shepard, on Armstrong Street in San Diego. 

After marrying in Arkansas they lived 4 short years there, before moving to Okemah, Oklahoma with their first two children, Hendrix who was 3, and Maida who was a year old. In Oklahoma their 3rd child Vicki (Melva) was born. In 1942, during the second World War, they moved to San Diego where their family flourished and grew and where they lived most of the rest of their lives. 

Today less than a dozen of Nola and Leroy's descendants live in the San Diego area, while the rest of them are found in Western Washington, Texas, Arizona, Southern California and Indiana. Their oldest living descendant is my mother Maida Gower Shepard of Anacortes, Washington, while their youngest descendant is Finley Shepard of Seattle (see recent picture above). In between those two is a diverse clan of several dozen people with the last names Gower, Shepard, Johnston, Harrell, Tuzzolino, Aquiningoc, Sauvage, Bearden and Cotten.

Living in San Diego gives me a chance to visit important places in the life of our larger family in year's past. This third picture shows a beautiful building in Balboa Park that for many years was the home of the Balboa Park Baptist Church. It has undergone some renovation over the years but it still has the Angel Gabriel on top, the only part of it still owned by the Church. Leroy and Nola attended that church for many years in the middle years of the 20th century. Leroy was a leader of the congregation, while Nola was very dedicated to it in many other ways. The only time I remember being in the church was that very memorable occasion in December, 1974, when Grandpa Leroy's funeral took place there.

Among the youngest descendants of Leroy and Nola are the two mentioned below whose birthdays are this week. 

Happy Birthday Karver. Yesterday, September 22, was the second birthday of Karver Ryan Bearden, one of just two Great Great Great Grandchildren of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. He is the baby boy of Lyndsey Aquiningoc of Granbury, Texas, and Colton Bearden. Here is Karver's lineage: Lyndsey Aquiningoc / Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc / Gary Shepard / Maida Gower Shepard / Leroy and Nola Gower.

Mom Lyndsey posted this on Facebook yesterday: This day 2 years ago was the most amazing experience in my life! The love that I have for this boy gets stronger and stronger every day. Its hard to believe that he is 2 today! Happy birthday Karver! I love you more than I can ever explain. 

Happy Birthday Victoria. Today, September 23 is the 9th birthday of Victoria Cotten, the older daughter of Sean and Heather Robson Cotten. Tori is one of the 16 Great Great Grandchildren of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. Tori and her family live in Austin, Texas. Here is Tori's lineage: Heather Robson Cotten / Paula Harrell Tuzzolino / Vicki Gower Johnston / Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower.

Looking back, we celebrate with gratitude and joy the lives of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower and the wonderful foundation they provided for all of us, their descendants. At the same time we honor these two young ones, and celebrate with them and their families.
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Steve Shepard

Wee Descendants, September 22, 2015

Having somewhere to go is home.

Having someone to love is family.

Having both is a blessing.

~Irish Proverb

Hello to everyone from Northern Ireland where Cindy and I are traveling today and for the next couple of weeks. We are presently in the city of Londonderry, a major port of Northern Ireland.

This first picture shows Cindy and me in front of The Gregory Bed and Breakfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where we stayed until this morning when we came to Londonderry.

Between Londonderry and Belfast is the wee town of Antrim, where Cindy and I and our traveling companion Linda, spent Sunday afternoon just two days ago. Antrim was the ancestral home of William Gray who came to America as a young man in the late 1700s. 

William Gray and his American wife Polly had a granddaughter named Peggy Gray who married David Reid Shannon and settled in Louisiana. Confederate Soldier David died in 1864 in the American Civil War leaving Peggy Gray Shannon with 7 children. One of those children was Samuel Pickens Shannon, who later would move to Stone County, Arkansas, marry Finetta Dearien and become the father of my grandmother Nola Shannon Gower. (How's that for 200+ years of family history in a nutshell?)

I thought about GGGG Grandpa William Gray as we walked the country roads around Antrim and strolled through the little town that has grown up a bit over the last 245 years since he was born there. I marvel at the courage it must have taken for him to leave his home, sail a small crowded ship across the dangerous Atlantic, and settle in a whole new world. His new homeland was a place of opportunity that we, his descendants all these years later, are privileged to call home.

Two of the wee descendants of William and Polly Gray are birthday kids Karver Bearden and Tori Cotten.

Karver Ryan Bearden. Today, September 22, is the very first birthday of Karver Ryan Bearden, the baby boy of Colton Bearden and my grand niece Lyndsey Aquiningoc of Granbury, Texas. Karver's proud Grandmother is Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc. He is the Great Grandson of my brother Gary Shepard and one of the Great Great Grandchildren of my mom Maida Gower Shepard. 


This second picture (above) which was taken recently, shows the happy birthday boy Karver.

Victoria Cotten. Tomorrow is the 8th birthday of Victoria Cotten, the older daughter of Heather and Sean Cotten, and one of the GG Grandchildren of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. Tori and her family live in Austin, Texas. Her Grandmother is my cousin Paula Tuzzolino of Oak Harbor, Washington, and her Great Grandmother is Vicki Gower Johnston of Oak Harbor.

This third picture shows Tori with her dad Sean in a picture taken very recently.

Happy Birthday and best wishes to both these Irish descended young'ns and their families on these special occasions!
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Steve Shepard

Being A Grown-up Is So Much Fun! Saturday, August 29, 2015

In some old photographs,

if you take anything out,

even a chicken or a little bird,

the magic will disappear.

~Mehmet Murat Ildan

Greetings today from Anacortes, Washington where Cindy and I and our grandson Logan are still visiting and enjoying family here after our family reunion last weekend.

Lyndsey Aquiningoc. Happy 25th Birthday today, August 29, to Lyndsey Aquiningoc of Weatherford, Texas. Lyndsey was born in San Diego in 1990, one of the four birthdays in our family that year. Since the turn of the century Lyndsey has lived in the Weatherford, Texas area along with several other members of her family.

Lyndsey's mother is Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc, and her grandparents are Jackie Perry and my brother Gary Shepard. She is one of the great grandchildren of Maida Shepard. Almost a year ago Lyndsey gave birth to her first child, Karver Bearden who is the second Great Great Grandchild of Maida Shepard. The picture on the left shows Lyndsey with son Karver.

Lyndsey: My birthday is coming up pretty quick. I hope it will definitely be a special one! I can't believe I'm going to be 25!! It's craaaazzzy! I really don't feel that old, lol! I don't have any plans as of right now. Kind of low on funds. My sister Mandi and I just got our first house together, in Granbury, Texas! So all our money goes to that. Being a grown up is so much fun! Hahaha. We love our new place! It's just sissy, me and the kids. Everything is going pretty good. I hope everything is well with you and the family! I wish we could have been there at the family reunion. It has been waaaaaaay to long! Tell everyone we said hi and we love and miss them dearly!

Another Never-Before-Seen Picture. This next picture is one more in the category of Never-Before-Seen Photos (at least in this blog). I have been aware of this picture for many years. And I have wanted to share it in this blog because it captures a unique moment in our family 45 years ago as we gathered around the dinner table. 

This picture has on it the date of January, 1970, but that must have been when the roll of film was developed. It was probably taken in December, 1969, at the Shepard home on Armstrong Street in San Diego. 

You've heard of "the elephant in the living room"? In this picture it's the mangled turkey in foreground. What were we thinking? How hard would it have been to move the ugly, picked-over carcass out of camera range? 

Having shared a happy turkey dinner, we wanted to capture the warm moment by taking a picture. Unfortunately the unappealing remnants of the main dish gets center stage. 

From left to right around the table are all 10 members of this part of the Shepard family: Maida, Barbara, Linda, me, Cindy, Gene (at the head of the table), Darrell, Russ, Kerri and Jackie.

This old photograph gets marred by the mangled turkey, but there is no mistaking the fact that this reflected a great period in the life of the Gene and Maida Shepard family. Cindy and I had only been married a year and were home for Christmas break from Abilene Christian College. My brother Gary and his wife Jackie had been married 3 years and had just one child, Kerri, the only grandchild of the family at the time. 

Many changes took place in the lives of the people in this picture in the ensuing months and years. And there were very few, if any, pictures taken of this entire family after this one. In spite of the bird, it is a memorable photo.
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Steve Shepard

The Grim Reaper and This Mortal Coil, March 3, 2015

In the end it is not

the years in your life that count,

but the life in your years. 

~Abraham Lincoln

Happy Birthday to my niece Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc, oldest first born daughter of my brother Gary Shepard of Oak Harbor, Washington, and oldest first born grandaughter of Maida Gower Shepard of Anacortes, Washington. Kerri lives in Weatherford, Texas and became a grandmother for the second time last fall with the birth of Karver Bearden of Weatherford. The year before her first granddaughter Kambree Bowman was born.

The following picture shows birthday girl Kerri in the middle, with her daughter and grandson Lyndsey and Karver Bearden on the left, and her daughter and granddaughter Mandi and Kambree Bowman on the right. Happy Birthday to Kerri!

I have mentioned a number of times that this blog is not only concerned with genealogical matters, it also celebrates our ongoing family. Which is to say its focus is not only on those who have died, but also on those of us who still count ourselves among the living. With that sobering thought in mind, I am including today the following article. Originally found in the Washington Post, it seems appropriate for us and is offered for your edification, amusement or enlightenment, whichever fits you best. And besides, when was the last time you read about "this mortal coil"? 

Does The Grim Reaper Have Favorite Days?

Want to live longer? Maybe you should take extra care on your birthday and the days you get paid. On the website for Men’s Health magazine, Markham Heid assembles information from various studies that show days (or times of day) when you are more likely to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Your chances are 25 percent higher of dying on your birthday than the average day of the year, says economist Pablo Pe, author of one of those studies, who says “risky behaviors” involving alcohol, driving and stress are probably the cause. For similar reasons, chances of dying also jump — though to a lesser degree — on the two big holidays, Christmas and New Year’s, according to a different study.

“More mystifying: Rates of death for all sorts of common diseases — from cancer to cardiovascular disease — also swell on the first day of the year,” Heid writes.
Several studies, including one from the University of Maryland, find that you are more likely to die soon after you get your paycheck. Again, increases in drinking and driving appear to be the cause.

As for the most lethal hour, Heid doesn’t really explain why — but if you’re reading this after 11 a.m., you’ve made it through the most dangerous time of day. Relax.

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Steve Shepard