Shepard Family Update October 16, 2009

The home is not the one tame place

in a world of adventure;

it is the one wild place 

in a world of rules and set tasks.

- G.K. Chesterton

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings on this beautiful fall day from the mountains of Northern California where Cindy and I are spending a few days. The record setting rains of this past Tuesday are now over, the air is clean and fresh, and there is a beautiful backdrop of tall green pines and cedars.

I am not sure exactly what G.K. Chesterton had in mind in the quote above, but I like the sentiment. It seems to me to point toward something important about the very nature of the best families. I wonder if his family was as wildly busy with activities as many of ours are. Some of our families might affectionately be described as "where the wild things are."

Sunday is the 101st anniversary of the birthday of Willie Davis Russell, who was Bura and Will Shepard's first son-in-law. Uncle Bill -- as many of us knew him -- was the first to marry into the family of Will and Bura when he married their daughter Pauline in 1935. Bill, who had a wonderful sense of humor, was born in Gage, Oklahoma, married Pauline Shepard in Springfield, Colorado, and moved to San Diego in 1940 where they both lived for the rest of their lives. Bill and Pauline both passed away about 10 years ago, but have the following living family members today: their son Rex Russell and their grandson Eric Russell and his wife Ruth of Red Rock, Nevada; and their granddaughter Shannon Wilk and her daughter Emma of Atchison, Kansas.

The first picture shows Bill and Pauline (Shepard) Russell at a family reunion in Anacortes, Washington in 1994. (Click on the picture to see a larger view.) Also in the picture on the front row on the left is my aunt Vicki Johnston of Oak Harbor, Washington (whose birthday also happen to be this Sunday; happy birthday to her!). My dad Eugene Shepard is also on the front row on the right. In the back are Vicki's daughter Paula Tuzzolino, Kerri Aquiningoc (holding daughter Mandi), Nathan and Cindy Shepard, Barbara Shepard, Kelly Sauvage (holding niece Lyndsey) and Pam Shepard (holding daughter Linda).

Sunday is also the birthday of Kori Lynn Boyd, the 19th Ggrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard. Thelma and Terry Boyd of Gallup, New Mexico are her grandparents; Darren and Vikki Boyd of Lakeside, California are her parents.

Vikki emailed me recently to say, Kori is doing very well, she is having fun at Hill Creek School in Santee. This picture was taken in our pool which she loves to be in when it is hot. She stays busy with school and LOTS of homework. She is currently playing Volleyball and will be starting basketball in November. Kori is the photographer in the family and loves to take pictures. We take her out whenever we can to take pictures of different things. She seems to have an eye for photography. 

Tomorrow is the birthday of Art Colgain, of Kaysville, Utah, father of Havilah Colgain of West Valley City, Utah. Havilah is the daughter of Joan Shepard and the granddaughter of Elmer Shepard of Newcastle, Oklahoma. She is also the 8th Ggrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard. Happy Birthday to Art!

Last week I sent out an old 1950s picture of Will and Bura Shepard with Bura's sister Winona and husband Barney Kilpatrick. In response I heard from Winona and Barney's daughter Norma Lou (Kilpatrick) Allen of Bolivar, Missouri, who said, Thank you so much for all you do. I just sat here with a silly smile looking at Mother and Daddy (Barney and Winona) on this computer page. That is especially nice of all four of them. We did not ever live in Oklahoma. They were married and lived in Two Buttes, Colorado. We had probably been visiting family in Beaver County, OK. and continued on to California. Our family always had so much fun making those trips. It seemed like we came out every summer for a month. Thanks again. 

May the wildness of your family give you great joy this week. 
- - -
Steve

Shepard Family Update, October 9, 2009

. 

At the end of the day, a loving family
should find everything forgivable.
~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer

Dear Shepard Family and Friends,

It is hard to believe that I have been sending out these family emails and posting them to my family blog (The Shepard's Crook) every Friday for nearly two years now! It has been quite an enjoyable enterprise and very rewarding. The feedback that I have received from many of you is gratifying and I am very thankful for it -- even the occasional corrections that I have received from a special auntie who lets me know whenever I make a mistake. (She is usually right on target, by the way.) But I am sure I would be doing this even if no one was reading it -- that's how much I enjoy it.

I am grateful that the list of readers continues to grow. It includes not only the families of the children of Will and Bura (Davis) Shepard -- which is a sizeable group in itself -- but the readership also includes a number of relatives of Will and Bura's siblings and ancestors. The last two years has yielded the pleasant surprise of putting me in touch with some wonderful relatives I had never even heard of before. These are people best described as "kissing cousins" -- second, third, or even fourth cousins who share a common ancestor and have as great a passion as I do for family research.

Even though these emails, and The Shepard's Crook as a family blog have only been around for about 2 years, as a tool for communication it has actually been around for over 10 years. It first began in Paradise.

In 1997 I was the minister of a church in the Northern California town of Paradise, California. My column in the monthly newsletter to the members of that congregation was called The Shepard's Crook. When I moved on to another church in Antioch, California, I carried the name with me, and labeled each regular communique to that group of folks the same thing.

And so it continued as I moved to Stockton and San Diego and Sacramento, until 2005 when I served a church in the California gold rush town of Murphys. In addition to the physical mailings of the regular church newsletter, I also posted my communications to that church family online, in a blog that I also called The Shepard's Crook.

This is why if you look back in the online archives of the blog, you can find some communications specific to that particular congregation, or you might find some sermons, or some other musings that have a different focus than what the blog has today.

Then on the last Friday in 2007, after my service to the Murphys church had ended, The Shepard's Crook evolved into what it is today, a weekly family blog. It now has a very specific focus -- the descendants and ancestors, as well as the family and friends of Will and Bura (Davis) Shepard.

And so it continues as a regular communications tool for sharing family news, reporting on the latest family history discoveries, promoting upcoming family reunions, offering old and new family photos (nearly 200 so far!), celebrating this unique family of ours, and simply musing on the subject of family.

FAMILY FACES. Speaking of family photos, above is the first of the two family pictures I am including today. (Click on the picture for a larger view.) Taken in 1951 in San Diego, it shows Will and Bura (Davis) Shepard on the right. On the left is Barney and Winona (Davis) Kilpatrick, Bura's sister and husband, when they came to California from Oklahoma for a family visit.

The second picture was taken this summer in Newcastle, Oklahoma at the family reunion. It shows two of Will and Bura's nephews and their wives. On the left is Arthur Jenkins of Beaver County, Oklahoma (son of Esther Davis Jenkins), with his wife Grace. On the right is Gary Millikan of Tulsa, Oklahoma (son of Marjorie Davis Millikan), with his wife Barbara.

Thanks to each of you for being one of the readers of these paragraphs. Whoever you are and wherever you are on life's journey you are welcome here. All I ask is that if you know of other family or friends who would be interested in what The Shepard's Crook offers, you will pass the word about it to them. It is very easy to add new names and addresses to the list.

As I have mentioned before, I always welcome your photos, stories, family news or opinions and comments that can be shared with the rest of the family. Ours is a family whose life is worth sharing!
- - -
Steve

Shepard Family Update, October 2, 2009

.

Our most basic instinct
is not for survival but for family. 
Most of us would give our own life 
for the survival of a family member, 
yet we lead our daily life too often 
as if we take our family for granted. 
~Paul Pearshall

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from San Diego. Cindy and I are back from our recent trip and are glad to be home. We ate too much (but never enough Greek salads!), enjoyed ourselves with friends, learned a little more Greek, saw places visited by the Apostle Paul, marveled at some spectacular Mediterranean sunsets, spend part of a day in a foreign emergency room, and took lots of pictures (click here to see some of them).  

Happy Anniversary. This weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the American religious phenomenon known as the Restoration Movement, also called the Stone-Campbell Tradition. It is a great American story (and a continuing story) that deserves recognition. Actually, throughout this entire year of 2009 numerous groups of persons related to the churches of the Restoration Movement have gathered at various times to mark this milestone and celebrate the original ideals of Alexander Campbell and others. I have mentioned in recent weeks that many of our family members have been integrally involved in various congregations of this particular movement for 150 years, particularly in Churches of Christ, but also in the Christian Church. Therefore it seems appropriate to recognize and celebrate this anniversary. So hats off to all those Shepards, Davises, Millikans, Kilpatricks, Boyds, Clarks, Allens, and any others in our circle of family and friends who are members of congregations of this movement. For more information about this anniversary and its celebrations visit GreatCommunion.org.

Last week I included an old picture from 1972 in which there was a young boy whom I could not identify. Thanks to Maida and Barbara Shepard (two other people in the picture) for saving the boy from the terrible fate of anonymity. Bart Pruitt is his name, and he is the son of Harvey Pruitt, the President of the school from which Jerry Clark, who was also in the picture, had just graduated.

A Picture of FIRSTS. The second picture I am including this week was taken in San Diego in 1965 and shows Bura (Davis) Shepard in yet one more 4-generation-picture that our family has been fond of over the years. On the upper left is Pauline (Shepard) Russell, Bura and Will Shepard's first born. On the upper right is Rex Russell, Pauline's first born (Bura's first grandchild). The infant is Eric Russell -- Rex's first child, Pauline's first grandchild, and Bura's first great grandchild. Bura was born (as a first born child herself) in 1896, Pauline in 1916, Rex in 1936, and then Eric in 1965.

The corsage on Bura, the table in the back, and the look on her face all suggest that this was a special day for her. On the photo from which this image was taken is stamped, by the developer, the date Feb 1966. That may have been when they got around to developing that roll of film (remember those days?). My guess is that this picture was probably taken at the celebration of Bura and Will's 50th wedding anniversary, which occurred June 3, 1965. At that time Eric was 5 months old and Bura was 68, relatively young to be celebrating such a milestone.

Little did they know at the time that Bura and Will Shepard would eventually have 20 great grandchildren, born over the following 34 years. Both Bura and Pauline have since passed away, Bura 23 years ago last month, and Pauline 9 years ago this month. Rex and Eric Russell both now live in Red Rock, Nevada.
 
Changes and Transitions. If your email address happens to change, just drop me a line and I will gladly change it on our mailing list. Or if you know of some other family members or friends who might like to be on this mailing list, just let me know. If you need to be taken off this list, send me an email and I can do that as well. Or if you have family pictures or memories or news that you'd like to share, please let me know.
- - -
Steve

Shepard Family Update, Sept. 25, 2009

The family. We were a strange little band of characters
trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste,
borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms,
inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant,
and trying to figure out the common thread
that bound us all together.
~Erma Bombeck

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Kairestismoi semeira! (Greetings yet again!) from the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini, on this first Friday of fall, which began this past Tuesday. At least according to the calendar. Where we are it arrived a few days earlier when the wind started to blow this past Sunday and shorts and sandals gave way to pants and a light coat. Where did summer go? Cindy and I and our traveling companions Yorgos and Dionysios have enjoyed ourselves immensely, but we are now ready to conclude our trip and will be heading home this coming Tuesday.

On that very day, as we speed our way westward across the U.S. at 35,000 feet, we will gaze down at the Texas panhandle with birthday wishes for Cathrina (Helms) Clark. Cathrina, who is married to Jerry Clark of Lubbock, Texas, works for a large Cotton Cooperative in Lubbock. She spends time when she can with her kids and grandkids, of whom she is very proud. She and Jerry were married 3 1/2 years ago in Santa Fe, N.M., and have 7 grandkids between the two of them. The first picture I am including shows Cathrina and Jerry earlier this month at a Texas Tech football game.

Jerry has been a part of our family since 1970 when he married my sister Linda Shepard, who died in a car accident in 1971. The second picture I am including is an oldie and was taken in 1972 when Jerry graduated from Lubbock Christian University in Lubbock, Texas. In the picture with graduate Jerry are a couple of members of our family who made the trip from San Diego to Lubbock to celebrate his graduation. Maida Shepard is on the far left, while the taller of the two boys on the right is Russell Shepard, Maida's youngest son. The smaller fellow in front of Russ I cannot identify.  He might have just wandered into the picture by mistake. (Can any of you tell me who he is and rescue him from the terrible fate of anonymity?) The spindly legged, but bright eyed 12 year old in the purple dress next to Jerry is Barbara Shepard, Maida's daughter.

Barbara, by the way, is to be congratulated for being one of only two people who responded to my question last week about Ggrandmothers. Evidently when I asked the question, most of your eyes must have glazed over as you wondered why I would even ask such an inane question. But not Barbara. Oh, no. She, like me, delights in such diversionary pursuits and was quickest to report correctly the names of each of her Ggrandmothers, who had beautiful names like Elvira (Owens) and Caroline Matilda (Spear), Serena Elizabeth (Turner) and Finetta Clementine (Dearien). Her spelling left a little to be desired, but her heart was in the right spot, so I commend her wholeheartedly.

Also to be commended is Steven Paul Shepard of Anacortes, Washington, who was a half hour slower in responding, but he proudly gave the names of his 4 Ggrandmoms as well. His spelling left even less to be desired, but I like his spirit. To keep your eyes from glazing over yet again I'll be brief and give just the first names of his Ggrandmoms: Nola, Bura, Francis and Alice. (The full names and info of all these Ggrandmothers can be found on ancestry.com.)

A couple of weeks ago I included a recording of Grandad Will Shepard that cousin Dane Shepard made available recently. Actually Dane converted several different recordings from cassette tapes to MP3 format. They were the result of some cassette recordings that were made back in the 1970s, not long before Grandad died in 1976. Will Shepard, who was born in 1888, was quite a compelling story teller and had lots to say about his long life and varied experiences, making these recordings real gems. We are indebted not only to Dane and his family's foresight in making the original recordings, but for his efforts in converting them to digital format. Select this link to hear another recording of Will Shepard from the 1970s. In this recording he talks about family and his own father, as well as the "wild and woolly west".

I received an email from my brother Gary (of Oak Harbor, Washington) the other day who corrected my comment last week about the total of Maida Shepard's Ggrandchildren. I forgot to add his wife Cindy's 3 grandchildren, which raises Maida's Ggrandchild total to 7. I know this is a modest number when compared to other Ggrandmothers in our larger Davis family (in particular Mildred Davis), but it is a proud total nonetheless.

Have a great week celebrating what Erma Bombeck referred to as "the common thread that binds us all together" as this "strange little band of characters" we call family!
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, Sept. 18, 2009

Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie - 

not perfect but who's complaining?  

~Robert Brault

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Kalimera! ("Good morning!") once again from Greece, this time from the beautiful Island of Santorini, a lovely paradise in the historic Aegean Sea. Even though things here are a little pricey -- $10 for a basket of chips at the local Mexican restaurant! -- we are enjoying ourselves very much. (What's a Mexican restaurant doing out in the Mediterranean anyway!?) And the currency is Euros, so it feels a little unreal to begin with.

Today is the 130th anniversary of the birthday of Levy Pruett (1879-1968), who many of you may never have even heard of. He was Grandad Will Shepard's brother-in-law, having married Grandad's only sibling, Sadie J. Shepard (1892-1980), in the summer of 1910 in Beaver County, Oklahoma. Whereas Bura (Davis) Shepard's family was quite large -- she had 6 siblings -- Will Shepard had only one sister. What this means is that the families of Will Shepard and his sister Sadie Shepard comprise the only descendants of their father William Elmer Shepard (1862-1915), AND their grandfather "Wabash" William Sheppard (1835-1862).

The first picture I am including shows Sadie and Levy Pruett (on the right) with Will and Bura Shepard when the Pruetts came to San Diego from Oklahoma for a visit in 1946.

Levy (pronounced "LEH-vee", NOT "Levi", like the jeans) and Sadie (Shepard) Pruett eventually had 3 daughters  -- Alberta (Pruett) Getz, Gayle Pruett and Twila (Pruett) Allred. There are quite a number of Shepard descendants from this part of our family living today, many of whose names we know, but so far we have been unable to locate any of them. None of them, of course, have the last name Shepard, but instead have last names like Allred, Getz, Pruett, and Kornegay. Hopefully something will turn up eventually and we can be in contact once again. If any of you who are reading this happen know any of Levy and Sadie's descendants, please send me an email with their contact information.

How well do you know your family? When visiting family in Washington State earlier this summer, we had some fun trying to see if we could each come up with the full names of our GREAT grandmothers. Do you know the names of your Ggrandmothers, including their middle names and maiden names? Take a moment right now and see if you can name them.

Ggrandmothers are interesting relatives. (So are Ggrandfathers, of course, but for a moment let's just think about GgrandMOTHERS.) Everyone has 4, each of whom has contributed to the gene pool to make us who we are. Most of us probably never met any of them, although a few of us are fortunate enough to say we have known them well. Even though we may never have met our Ggrandmothers, we probably are closely related to people who did know them very well. So more than likely we each have had some very good second hand information about them. Because our Ggrandmothers used their married names most of their lives, their maiden names often get forgotten. (Hence security questions like: "Mother's maiden name?")

I am curious: how long did it take you to come up with the names of your 4 Ggrandmothers? Did you have to look them up? Or can you even find their names? Or were you able to rattle them off with ease?

Here's a challenge to all of you who are reading this: send me an email with the names of your 4 Ggrandmothers - or at least as much of their names as you can come up with. The first one who emails me the most complete information will be the winner, and will receive a special commendation.

There are a number of women in our larger family who have the distinct privilege of being Ggrandmothers. This second picture shows the two Ggrandmothers within our Shepard clan: Thelma (Shepard) Boyd and Maida Shepard. Thelma (on the left) is holding her youngest Ggrandchild (out of 3) Damian Ortiz, while Maida has on her lap her oldest Ggrandchild (out of 4, or is it 5?) Lyndsey Aquiningoc.

Antio gia tora ("So long for now") and have a great week! 
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, Sept. 11, 2009

.

The value of the family 
is not that adults produce children,
but that children produce adults. 
-Peter de Vries

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

"Kalimera!" from the beautiful little seaside town of Napflion, Greece, southwest of Athens. We are on the Peloponnesian peninsula, which is a place of vital importance to the history of western civilization. The ancient city of Corinth is about an hour's drive from here, and is home to some of the most stunning archeological ruins in the entire country. That city is also where the Apostle Paul lived for a period of time, and where he planted a church that became one of the most famous in the first century.

On this 8th anniversary of 911, it is humbling to be an American on foreign soil. Of more particular concern to our family, this is a day to be reminded again of how much our world and our country has changed. I can still recall my Grandad Will Shepard 35 or so years ago, talking about the Russians (he pronounced the word "Ruushuns") and how they were the fulfillment of Biblical teaching and a grave danger to our future. How times have changed when thinking about the threats we have to deal with!

Select this link to listen to Will Shepard being interviewed on a variety of family subjects in 1975. In this particular recording he does not expound on the "Ruushuns," but you will still find it interesting and -- if you knew Grandad -- nostalgic. Thanks to Dane Shepard for this recording. (The file is very large, so please be patient.)

As a day of remembrance, September 11 is a day of darkness and tragedy. I prefer September 12 myself. There is a movement afoot to make 9-12 a day of recovery, a day of reconciliation, an annual Axis of Friendship Day, in order to move beyond the ugliness and horror of 911.

I also like September 12 because it was on that day in 1861 that GGgrandpa "Wabash" William Sheppard joined the Union cause and began his military service. Even though he would not live to see another September 12, that day in 1861 must have been for him a time of great hope and expectation. He had just left his young wife in Wabash, Indiana -- who was four months pregnant with their first child -- and found himself in Indianapolis. It was very early in the conflict, so he -- like all the other recruits -- was anticipating a swift conclusion to the southern rebellion, so they could all get on with their young lives. In hindsight we know that his story ended sadly, but it was a fine September 12 when the last adventure of his life began.

Back to the future: here in the 21st century, September 12 is important because it is the birthday of Kelly Shepard Sauvage of Weatherford, Texas. Those of you who were at the July reunion will remember her and her 2 boys who attended and enjoyed themselves immensely. Kelly emailed recently to say,

We have a lot going on here in Texas. Nate and Kyle entered public school this year. YEAH!! No more monthly payments to daycare/private school. They are so excited about public school. Kyle is so happy to have some boys in his class. In Pre-K he was one of only three boys in a class with 13 girls. He had his first T-ball practice this week and is excited to finally be old enough to play. Nate loves his new school too. Especially going to P.E. and Music class. Nate will have his first "coach pitch" practice this week. After two seasons of T-ball he will be moving up. James started a new job with Direct TV in July and he seems to be enjoying it. He will once again be referreeing football as often as his job will allow. He referees everything from pee wee to high school. So I will once again be a "single mom" until football season is over. It doesn't leave me much free time, but I love being with my boys. I had a great time this summer at the family reunion in Oklahoma. It was great to see everyone. Nate and Kyle still talk about the people they met and played with. Nate loves to talk about his "best buddy" Steven. Kyle still talks about his second cousin Linda and his third and fouth cousins... Nate Shepard and Nathan Shepard.  I can't wait for us to do this again!

The first picture I am including was taken in San Diego in 1976 and shows a young Kelly on the shoulders of her uncle Darrell Shepard, who now lives in Kenmore, Washington. Also in the picture are her aunt Barbara Shepard and another uncle, Russell Shepard, who both now live in Anacortes, Washington.

The second picture I am including was taken in July in Newcastle, Oklahoma at the family reunion. In the middle of the picture is Kelly. Surrounding her (beginning in the bottom left and going counterclockwise) are her younger son Kyle Sauvage, Ciara Ortiz of San Diego and Kelly's older son Nate Sauvage. Then Virginia Niles of Edmond, Oklahoma, Linda and Steven Shepard of Anacortes, Washington, and Nathan and Chenda Shepard, of San Francisco.

Speaking of Nathan and Chenda, congratulations are in order. They are expecting a baby next spring! Best wishes and good health to both of them. Have a great week, wherever you may be, celebrating this wonderful, diverse family that we are!

--

Steve

Shepard Family Update, September 4, 2009

.

"Blood is thicker than water."
-popular proverb

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greeting from our home in San Diego where Cindy and I find ourselves on this weekend of Labor Day, when most of don't do much "labor" at all.

This coming Wednesday, September 9, is my turn to celebrate a birthday! The unique date 090909 suggests to many people oneness, a sense of being connected to each other and to our world. In the midst of all the strife and dissension in the world around us, that suggestion seems very attractive. For that reason many people around our world are celebrating next Wednesday as World Day of Interconnectedness. Seems to me -- especially with our interest in our "interconnectedness" as family -- that would be a great way to approach this coming Wednesday. Or any day for that matter.

The first picture I am including is an old one and illustrates interconnectedness, at least as it relates to our family. Taken in the spring of 1983 in Los Alamitos, California, it is yet another multi-generational picture which our family has been fond of over the years. It shows Bura (Davis) Shepard in the middle, and her second son Eugene Shepard on the right. On the left is me (Eugene's second son) and then our son Nathan holding an airplane. This picture was taken on his 6th birthday.

I mentioned last week that the story of the our family cannot be fully told apart from our Church connections. I'd like to go a step further and say something about my particular place in that picture. With it being my week to celebrate a birthday, I hope you will indulge me this bit of autobiography.

My early years were all spent in regular participation in Church of Christ congregations. There was never a time when my family did not attend a Church of Christ faithfully. It was during my college years at Lubbock Christian and then Abilene Christian that I felt a yearning, a call, to enter the ministry. In the ensuing 10 years I served in full time ministry in various Church of Christ congregations while getting advanced degrees at San Francisco Theological Seminary and Fuller Seminary.

In time my faith and religious understanding evolved to the point where I felt the need to become a minister in the Disciples of Christ, a more progressive and open minded fellowship. It was a decision I did not come by easily. The Disciples are the ecclesiastical cousins of the Church of Christ, toward the "left" side of the religious spectrum. Yet they share many similarities in practice, including believer's baptism by immersion, weekly communion, and congregational autonomy. And they are both part of the Stone-Campbell tradition, a religious movement that began in early America. As I mentioned last week, our family has roots in that particular heritage that go back nearly 150 years.

I still remember that evening 30 years ago when I told my Grandmother Bura (Davis) Shepard that I had become a minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She was the religious matriarch of our family and bore the torch of loyalty to the Church of Christ better than anyone else. Many in our larger family had gathered during the Christmas holidays at the home of cousin Phil Wilk, with whom Gram was living at the time, in Lakeside just outside San Diego.

It was a time of transition for our family. Grandad Will Shepard had died at the age of 88 just a couple of years earlier. And Phil's young wife Beverly had tragically died just a few year's before that, leaving Phil with two small children, Karl and Shannon. The adjustment to Bev's death was made more difficult for some by Phil's choice of a man to be his life partner. Sometime during the evening Gram and I had a moment together. I swallowed hard and told her that I had become a minister of a Christian Church. Her response was simple but to the point: "I can't go for that." More than anything else, I understood that to be a reflection of her 80+ years of unwavering loyalty to the Church of Christ.

Fortunately, the relationship she and I shared was strong enough that my decision to wander away from the Church of Christ fold was not an obstacle to our life together. Even though Gram was thoroughly devoted to the Church of Christ, she cared deeply for all her family, regardless of their life decisions. "Blood is thicker than water" is an old proverb suggesting that family ties are strangely stronger that just about any other relationship in life. And to our credit, I have found that to be true in our family, thanks in large part to her generous and loving spirit. And when you think about it, isn't that what "interconnectedness" means?

Red Rock's Roper Rider Rex Russell. The second picture I am including shows cousin Rex Russell of Red Rock, Nevada, with his horse Roper. Eric and Ruth, Rex's son and daughter-in-law, also of Red Rock, sent this picture to me recently to share with all of you.

Rex is the first child of Bill and Pauline (Shepard) Russell, and is the first grandchild of Will and Bura Shepard. It is hard to believe that the cowboy in this picture was raised a city boy in San Diego! To be sure, he was born in a very small town in southeast Colorado, but his family moved to Southern California in 1940 when he was a young child. Though Roper is his pride and joy, Rex can also be found occasionally racing his souped up black Camaro on the Fallon Raceway. Eric and Ruth shared with me that Rex spent some time in the hospital earlier this summer with pneumonia, but the last word I received is that he is doing much better now, and is back in the saddle again.

For the next couple of weeks Cindy and I will be out of the country, and I may have some trouble accessing or sending email. If you don't hear from me, just check our family blog at TheShepardsCrook.com each Friday for a family update.
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update August 28, 2009

.

Nor need we power or splendor,
wide hall or lordly dome;

The good, the true, the tender
-- these form the wealth of home.

-Sarah J. Hale

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from the Great Northwest, in particular Anacortes, Washington where Cindy and I are visiting with my mom Maida Shepard and other family members here who "form the wealth of home." I am struck again by the fact that August is a wonderful time to be in this part of the world.

As I continue to reflect on my visit to Indiana earlier this summer, I can't help but be struck by how Church affiliation has been a strong value in our family for many generations. To be sure, almost all American families are church related to some degree. But ours has church connections that seem to be stronger and more enduring than most.

I have mentioned before that our family has an exceptionally long history in the Churches of Christ, at least as far back as 1866. That's when my GGGgrandfather Alexander Davis became the first of many family members to belong to the New Union Church of Christ near Spencer, Indiana. The connection may go back even farther, because Alexander Davis came to Indiana from Belmont County, Ohio, which was just a few miles from where the Stone-Campbell Movement originated in the earliest years of the 19th century. In 1866 (which, coincidentally, was the year that Alexander Campbell died) the Stone-Campbell Movement was still young. So young, in fact, that there was no distinction between Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, or Disciples of Christ. Those three groups were not separate identities until the 20th Century.

The New Union Church of Christ outside Spencer was just the first of many congregations where people in our family have clustered for several decades at a time. There were members of our family in the New Union Church for most of its 100 history until it died in 1956.

About 1910 some of our Davis kin (including Bura Davis) migrated from Indiana to Beaver County Oklahoma, where they helped start the South Flat Church of Christ. It became the church home for Will and Bura's family until 1928. It was also home to many other Davises for many decades after that.

The first picture I am including was taken in front of the South Flat Church in Oklahoma in 1989. On the front steps is my father, Eugene Shepard, who was baptized at this church (in a horse trough!) as a youth.

When Will and Bura moved to San Diego in 1940, the El Cajon Blvd Church of Christ became the church home for them and some of their family for nearly 60 years. Other Church of Christ congregations in the San Diego area where some of our family have belonged include Linda Vista, Allied Gardens, Bostonia, El Cajon, and Poway. For over 30 years now the 32nd St. Church of Christ in Anacortes has been the spiritual home for many of Eugene and Maida Shepard's part of the family.

There are, of course, many other congregations that folks in our larger family have been affiliated with over the years in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Washington and elsewhere. If you are a part of our larger family and belong to another congregation, I would be glad to hear from you. You are welcome to send me an email with the particulars.

This brief summary of Church affiliation does not even include the ways that some in our family (including myself) have developed religious ties to groups besides the Churches of Christ. And a number of our family members, of course, have chosen to develop no official religious ties at all. Yet it remains true that one way to tell our family's history is through the congregations around which they have clustered over the last 150 years.

Happy 19th Birthday tomorrow to Lyndsey Aquiningoc! The second picture shows Lyndsey in a picture taken last month at Weatherford, Texas where she and her family live, including mom Kerri and sister Mandi. She is the first GGgrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard. In the picture with her is one of her Ggrandmothers Maylo Enderle. Thanks to Barbara Shepard for this picture.

-- Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 21, 2009

.

I came up out of those chilly waters
a bearcat for the Lord,
and have remained that way ever since!
-Carrie Nation
(19th Century activist)

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from the cool, green mountains of the High Sierra in Northern California. Cindy and I are looking forward to a pleasant weekend here with Nathan and Chenda.

I begin on a somber note. Today would have been the 59th birthday of my younger sister Linda Shepard, who died in 1971. It has been 38 years since the car accident that took her life, but the impact of her 21 years remains indelible on those who knew her. The first picture I am including was taken in 1970 and was one of the last family pictures with all 6 children. It shows Eugene and Maida Shepard on the back left. Seated next to them are Gary, me and Linda. In front are Darrell, Russell and Barbara.

We all make mistakes. Last week I sent a family picture from the 1940s in which I identified the young man in the picture as Rex Russell. The other child in the picture -- Thelma (Shepard) Boyd -- emailed me to say that the boy in the photo was NOT Rex. Instead it was Norman Getz, who was Rex's second cousin, and about the same age. (One has to work very hard to put something past Thelma!)

More About the Davises. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Lucy Davis, the daughter of Tom Davis, and cousin of Bura Davis, all of whom were members of the New Union Church of Christ, near Spencer, Indiana about 100 years ago. Lucy had been baptized in 1916 in frozen Rattlesnake Creek, where the ice had to be broken to get her in the water. When I first heard that story, I must admit I was a little skeptical. Not just because I tend to be skeptical, but because I know how family stories DO get exaggerated sometimes! However, I have since learned that years ago, being baptized in a frozen creek was not all that unusual. For some, it even became something of a badge of honor, a point of pride. The following true story illustrates this. (I heard this in Indianapolis last month, told by TCU Church historian Newell Williams. This is my recollection and not a direct quote.)

Carrie Nation (1846-1911) was a 19th century temperance crusader adamantly opposed to the evils of drinking alcohol. She was also a member of the Stone-Campbell Movement (the movement that gave birth to the Churches of Christ, the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ). Carrie Nation was in the habit of storming into a bar, with hatchet in hand (see her picture, hatchet and all), and driving out the drinkers and tearing up the place -- the tables and chairs, the bar, even the picture of the half naked lady behind the bar -- all "in the name of the Lord". Later a reporter asked her about such extreme behavior. She proudly reported that when she came to the Lord and was baptized, it was on the coldest day of the year. They had to saw a hole in the ice to get her into the river for baptism. "I came up out of those chilly waters a bearcat for the Lord, and have remained that way ever since!"

Call me a sissy, but I'm proud of my immersion in the heated waters of the indoor baptistry of the Linda Vista Church of Christ in San Diego (50 years ago last month!). Even so, you have to admire the spunk of a young person like Carrie Nation or Lucy Davis, who responds to God's call and is baptized outdoors, in the Midwest, in winter. Bura Davis was much more sensible. She had the good sense to be baptized in August! (See picture at left of Rattlesnake Creek near the New Union Church of Christ, taken this summer. This is the creek where they did their baptisms.)

I'd like to think that cousin Lucy Davis' icy December baptism in Rattlesnake Creek was something that she, like Carrie Nation, was proud of all her life. But no matter how full of pride Lucy may have been in her private moments, she would never have acted in such a rash, albeit purposeful manner as Ms. Nation. Our family has always valued modesty and decency too much for that. Lucy may have thought highly of that crusader, and may have even felt a kinship in spirit, but I doubt she would have acted with such abandon.

Even though Lucy may not have thought of her baptism as making her a "bearcat for the Lord", she was a devout Christian. Five years after her baptism, she married Frank Wheeler, who had been a fellow teen with her in the New Union Church. He had actually begun preaching at age 16, the same year as Lucy's icy baptism at age 13. (Hmm. A connection perhaps?) Their dream of a life together was cut short, however, when Frank died after just two years of marriage at age 24 of Typhoid fever while preaching for the Linton (Indiana) Church of Christ. Two children were born to that short marriage: Lloyd Wheeler (who also became a Church of Christ preacher) and Ruth (Wheeler) Fortner, who Cindy and I had the pleasure of spending time with recently in Spencer, Indiana.

Happy Birthday, Amanda. This coming Tuesday is the Birthday of Amanda Ortiz, one of Will and Bura (Davis) Shepard's 20 Ggrandchildren. Amanda lives in Blue Springs, Missouri with Jeff and (her mother) Kim Clark. She was part of Thelma (Shepard) Boyd's family who attended the family reunion in Oklahoma last month. In the picture surrounding Amanda are Desiree Ortiz on the left, Cindy Shepard and Barbara Shepard in the back, and on the right are Kori Boyd (in purple) and Kim Clark. Amanda is holding her niece Ashlyn Ortiz.

Have a great week. And as these long, warm days of August continue, let the thought of an icy baptism keep you cool. And full of spunk!
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 14, 2009

.

A people without history
is like wind on the buffalo grass.

-Native American Proverb

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you! This blog entry is coming to you from our home in San Diego where Cindy and I are cooling our heels, as we make our way through these warm, dog days of summer.

REGARDING OUR SHEPARD ROOTS. After my comments last week, I received word from an historian in Wabash, Indiana about one of our Shepard ancestors. I had mentioned that the 1860 census shows a William Sheppard living in Wabash, Indiana with a family named Baker. Susan Neff is the historian for the Dr. James Ford Museum in Wabash, and is herself descended from the family with whom William was living. She says, among other things, that our ancestor William was a part of "the farm household of George and Rhoda (Stradley) Baker and their young daughter Catherine. Rhoda was from a prominent family of local physicians - i.e., her father Dr. Daniel W. Stradley and two brothers, Dr. Ayres and Dr. Daniel N. Stradley." You can read her very interesting message at the end of my blog posting for Aug 7. I am very grateful for Susan Neff's response and her insights and suggestions.

Even though this William Sheppard's name is spelled with two p's, I am certain this is my GGgrandfather. Everything about this William from Wabash fits with what we know. And name misspellings were not uncommon among census takers, or among other people for that matter, including the military. In Evansville, Indiana where the military buried him, the cemetery has in their office records "William Sheppard," but when you go to the headstone in that cemetery his name is spelled "William Shephard". This would certainly not be the first time the government has misspelled the name of a young person in their service.

Add to all this the interesting family story that this William's son, William Elmer Shepard, who never knew his father, ran away from home in Wabash in the late 1870's and separated forever from any Shepard kin he might have known. Perhaps, somewhere between Wabash, Indiana and Madison County, Illinois, where he settled, he chose to simplify the spelling of his name to Shepard. Or maybe he was just unsure of how it was spelled. In view of all of this, is it surprising that the name spelling is so confusing? Fortunately, after Ggrandad William Elmer Shepard married and settled in Illinois, the name has always been spelled "Shepard" and remains so to this day.

Back to 1860: Why William from Wabash was living with the Bakers just before the Civil War, we do not know. There is no indication that any other family members of this William Sheppard were living in the area at the time, so perhaps he had recently moved there by himself or with friends.

The 1860 census record also indicates that William, who was 24 at the time, had "personal property" valued at $550, which was a significant amount of money. It was enough to buy a large parcel of land for a farm in Indiana in 1860, which may very well have been what William intended to do. Unfortunately he died in the Civil War just 2 years later, as did any hopes or dreams he might have had for the future.

So now the search continues for information about the widow Sheppard, who was left behind with an infant child when William died in July, 1862. It appears that William was single at the time of the 1860 census, so their marriage must have occurred in the 15 months between the census of June, 1860 and September, 1861 when he enlisted in the Army. Their son William Elmer was born in February, 1862, so that narrows their probable marriage date down even further. Unfortunately there is no record of their marriage in Wabash County during that time, although record keeping was not consistent. I know that this may seem tedious to some of you, but I find it fascinating and look forward to the next bit of information that will be discovered.

The first picture I am including, from the early 1940s, shows the only two grandchildren of that Civil war casualty William Sheppard: my grandfather also named William Shepard (1888-1976) and his sister Sadie (Shepard) Pruett (1892-1980). They are the two adults in the middle of the picture. On the far left is Will's wife Bura (Davis) Shepard, and next to her is Will and Bura's young daughter Thelma (Shepard) Boyd. On the right is their first grandchild Rex Russell.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA SHEPARD! One of Wabash William Sheppard's GGGgrandchildren is Linda Shepard of Anacortes, Washington whose 16th birthday is this Sunday. See a photo presentation celebrating her birthday.

Linda is Pam and Russ Shepard's daughter, and Maida Shepard's youngest grandchild. She spent most of a month this summer visiting family and friends in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, and attending the Newcastle family reunion. Her favorite part of this summer was spent in Weatherford, Texas hanging out with cousins Kerri, Lyndsey and Mandi Aquiningoc.

Linda is also honing her driving skills, in hopes of getting her driver's license next week. In just a few weeks she begins her junior year at Anacortes High School. Best wishes to Linda for a very happy birthday!

I have more I want to share about our recent trip to Indiana, regarding our Davis family, but I will save that for next time.
--
Steve