Shepard Family Update, November 27, 2009

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Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.

—Gladys Browyn Stern

Hello Shepard family and friends,

Greetings from sunny San Diego on this day after Thanksgiving.

Back in "the golden days" of the Shepard family (the 1940s, 50s and 60s) all of Will and Bura Shepard's children and grandchildren lived in San Diego. Many of us have memories of when we all would gather for Thanksgiving dinner, often at the home of Elmer and Beryl Shepard on Osage Trail in the suburb of Winter Gardens. The first picture I am including today was taken in that very setting 49 years ago yesterday. (Select the picture to see a larger view.) It shows Will and Bura Shepard, their 4 children and their spouses, and 8 of their 9 grandchildren at the time (Beverly Russell is not seen and may have been taking the picture). Barbara Shepard (on the left in front) at 1 year old was the youngest family member.

I am grateful for every member of our larger family, in particular all of you who are on this emailing list, regardless of the particular part of our family you happen to belong to. In a special way I am thankful for Dane Shepard who sent out the last two weekly emails, while Cindy and I were away. We got home just in time for turkey day! (See some pictures of our latest trip.) I hope you were able to spend the holiday with your family and/or friends whether you live in Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina or anywhere else members of our larger family happen to reside.

Speaking of North Carolina, that is where fourth cousin Pamela Williams Martin lives. She loves family research and it is always a joy to compare notes with her. We share a GGGgrandfather, John Pouty Williams, who was Bura Davis Shepard's Ggrandfather. Pam wrote me recently to say, "I have some sad news. My oldest sister, Judy (Williams Franciscy), passed away Friday (Nov 13) after a long illness. She was the glue that held all of us children together. Judy will be greatly missed. Of all of the thousands of listings that I have made in my genealogy research, this one is by far the hardest to enter." Our prayers and best wishes are with Pam and her entire family in this time of loss.

Some happier news for this week: This Sunday is the birthday of Damian Ortiz of El Cajon, California AND his Grandmother Kim Clark, a San Diegan at heart who lives in Blue Springs, Missouri. Kim emailed me recently with the following.

My Yorkie puppies are 5 months old and I bet you can guess their names... Cali and Diego. I just wish I had half their energy. It's getting pretty cold here. We had about 1 inch of snow a week ago. It probably won't be long until we get more. You inspired me to look up ancestry.com for my dad's side and I'm finding that they all started in Arkansas and Oklahoma. I guess there is no escaping the Midwest from either side. It is really special to have a grandchild that was born on my birthday.

Damian is the 8th GGgrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard and has the honor of being their youngest descendant (for the next few months anyway!). His mother Desiree Ortiz emailed me recently and shared the following.

Here is a picture of Damian in his favorite outfit, a Charger Jersey and jeans. Damian will be three and he is such a joy! He is all boy, he loves to jump, climb, run and play all sports. He especially loves football. His birthday party will be Charger themed! :)  Damian is a fun and exciting kid. He takes me on daily adventures! We love him so much, and couldn't be any prouder to have a son like him.

My brother Darrell had planned to send out the family email this week, but due to some unexpected events, he asked to put it off until a future date. I am hopeful that we will hear from him in a family email sometime in the future. Best wishes to him and his family.

--

Steve

Shepard Family Update, November 20, 2009

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(The following is the second of two blog entries by cousin Dane Shepard while I am out of town. Thanks so much to Dane for sharing these family thoughts!)

Dear Shepard Family and Friends,

Hello again from the southern region of the Great Plains. As we have been sharing, this is where both the Shepard and Davis families decided to migrate to, early in the last century just before and after Oklahoma became a state in 1907. By the way, according to www.mongabay.com, which lists the most common surnames in the U.S., the name "Davis" ranks seventh while "Shepard" comes in at 815.

This past November 11 was Veteran's Day.  Both sides of the family have members who once served in the armed forces. We are certainly grateful to them and all those who continue to protect our freedom. Recently I took my father, Elmer, to a local museum where they displayed some decor, clothing, and other items from dwellings of Adolf Hitler. Pictured below is Dad looking into a mirror once used by Hitler himself. Dad, now 91, served in the Army Air Corps in WWII. His brother, Eugene, was in both the Coast Guard and the Navy.  The next picture is of their younger cousin, Jack, son of John and Margie (Davis) Millikan who became a pilot in the Navy. Elmer took him for a plane ride when he was very young and it seemed to have made an impression.  In fact, sometime much later when Dad was working as an aircraft examiner at the North Island naval air facility in San Diego, a plane came taxiing up to where he was.  After the plane had parked, the cockpit canopy opened and he heard the pilot say, "Hello, Elmer."  It was Jack.

        

Now lets return to "Garden of Memory" for the second part of the Shepard Family Story that we began last week.  According to Margie, William and Bura were "Married June 2,1915 by Steve Shoemate, Sophia Community." Their picture below was taken sometime in the early 1960's, probably around Mother's Day as Bura is sporting a lovely corsage.

When he [William] asked Dad for Bura in marriage, Dad told him, "You are getting the best spoke in the wheel." His temper was likely his hardest job to control, but Bura, so calm and sensible, was always there to smooth things out for him. I can almost still hear her say, "Now, Daddy."

Bura didn't even weigh 100 pounds but was a regular work horse. Mother said at four years old she was a great help to her, carrying the butter and things back and forth to the spring house. She said she couldn't have raised the rest of us without her.

Bura was a good cook in her mid teens. When the wheat was harvested and stacked, then it was threshing time. Sometimes there was a cook shack that fed the regular crew. Bura took the hot, hard, low paying job of feeding those hungry, hard working men. The shack was a very small house set on wagon runners and wheels so it could be moved along with the threshing crew of six to ten men. There was a little monkey stove in the corner, no cabinets, two board tables along each wall, and benches to sit on and be pushed under the tables when not in use. There was a door at the back and a side door toward the front. There were potatoes to be peeled, corn bread to be made, water to be carried and dishes to be washed. I wish I had asked her what her wages were for all this. I would guess three to four dollars a week.

She was thrifty and bought a beautiful wedding dress of pure China silk with lots of embroidery on the overskirt of it. I think it cost around $12.00 ordered from a catalog. It would cost hundreds of dollars now. Later when Pauline, Elmer, and Eugene were little, they had a herd of milk cows. Bura had an account with Sears and Montgomery Ward, and bought a cream separator, sewing machine, brass bed, folding chair and other things.

She was an excellent seamstress. She sewed for me, Mother, and Will's mother, besides her own family. After they moved to Colorado, she was also a nurse. She delivered a friend's baby boy. The good old doctor, that didn't make it in time, looked things over and said she did a good job.

Will and Bura were married on Dad's birthday. The Shepard family all loved her dearly. She left a lot of footprints on the sands of time. She was truly a virtuous woman--Proverbs 31.

What a touching tribute!  I'm pleased to have had the privilege of sharing it with you all.  Next week we look forward to hearing from my cousin, Darrell, from the beautiful state of Washington. This happens to be the present home of not only many of the Shepard clan, but also of Bud and Janet Davis.

Gratefully,

Dane

Shepard Family Update, November 13, 2009

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(The following is written by my cousin Dane Shepard who has agreed to be the guest poster for two weeks while I am out of the country and unable to access email or the internet. Thank so much to Dane for this gracious contribution to the family blog.)

Dear Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from central Oklahoma where the wind does come "sweepin' down the plain." This is Dane Shepard filling in for my cousin, Steve, while he and Cindy are enjoying a cruise. Steve has done a great job of keeping us informed and connected and I will try to continue with that effort in his absence.

It's interesting and sometimes a bit surprising where we end up in life.  For example, take Chenda Shepard who recently came from Cambodia to be a part of the family. I imagine it has been quite an adventure for her. (See her below trying out a Razor while at the reunion in July.) For myself, being a native Californian for 55 years, I never dreamed I would be living in Oklahoma where a good portion of our family history took place. My father, Elmer, has made a complete circle returning to Oklahoma where he was born via Colorado, California, and Texas. Of course, this is nothing new, even for our ancestors on both the Shepard and Davis sides. Today and next week we'll be taking a look at the early lives of a special couple and the changes that life brought them.

The information I am sharing is from a homemade booklet of ten pages entitled, "Garden of Memory." It contains some Shepard and Davis family pictures and the recollections of Margie Davis Millikan-Williams regarding the Davis family and a special tribute to her oldest sister, Bura, and husband, William Shepard. I found it among my dad's belongings and I'm grateful that Margie took the time to record her thoughts so we could share in what otherwise might have been lost and forgotten. No date appears on the booklet but it seems to have been written after William and, perhaps, Bura had passed on. Maybe some of you can provide some helpful details. I have taken the liberty of doing some editing for clarification and continuity.

                  

The pictures above show Margie and Bura toward the end of their lives.  Bura was the oldest and Margie the youngest of the seven children of James Brooks and Caroline Davis. Both lived to the ages of 100 and 90 respectively.

Here is part one of "Garden of Memory: the Shepard Family":

Bura was only sixteen when the James Brooks Davis family moved to Oklahoma from Indiana. She left behind a young Christian man interested in her and I'm sure they must have missed one another. But Mother told Dad that she wouldn't leave a child behind so he got busy with a sale and preparations to go west. Oklahoma was a new state and it took hardy characters to remain there. The droughts, wind, and grasshoppers were something else.

The [William Elmer and Elvira] Shepard family had moved from East St. Louis where William had worked on the railroad. His run was from St. Louis to Kansas City. When he was in K.C. he felt so much better that he decided to go west to Oklahoma for his health. He could also get land cheaper there. They had two children, William and Sadie. Sadie worked at the Logan Post Office for a time and later married Levy Pruett, a rancher. They all seemed to enjoy the wide open spaces.

Dad at first substituted as a mail carrier for Sam Whitlow on the LaKemp route. However, the Sophia Post Office was soon discontinued; the two horse hack and the motorcycle route went with it. Dad looked for other work and found it in a country store owned by Harve Miller. The nearest store was in LaKemp, a small community of 45 or 50. There was a bank and a Dr. Smith with his small office and medical wisdom. [According to Elmer Shepard, this was the doctor that delivered Pauline, his sister, but was to too late when his time came so his father, William, did the honors.]

In 1915 we moved a quarter mile east to an 80 acre plot that Dad had bought from Grandpa [Charles Davis]. Dad had bought the store from Harve Miller, and he and his brother, Zaley, built a new one on the property. Grandpa was getting old and retired from farming as his cataracts were causing failing eyesight. He sold the other half to Uncle John. Later, Uncle John and Aunt Vera retired to Booker,TX.

The Shepard farm was less than a mile east of us and it didn't take Will long to notice and admire Bura. His father was a good man but no one had taught him the way of salvation. By that time he was in very poor health. They took him to Amarillo, TX and he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It was too late for any help. He died in late winter or early spring.

While Bura and Will were going together, Will had a chance to learn the way of salvation. (He was a deacon in the church for several years before he passed away.) A pioneer preacher by the name of Ballard taught and baptized many people at that time. Will and his father were two of them. This meant so much to his father in his last days and I'm sure to Will the rest of his life. He continued going to church services and helped on the new South Flat church building which was built in about 1917. Before that we met in the Happy Hollow School and before that in a sod school house.

That's all for now. We'll continue next week.

Gratefully yours,

Dane

Shepard Family Update November 6, 2009

One touch of nature 

makes the whole world kin.

~Shakespeare

(Troilus and Cressida) 

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you wherever you may be on this first weekend of November. Cindy and I have just moved into a new home here in San Diego, not far from where our last residence was. Our email addresses and phone numbers remain the same, which is the most important thing, of course.

This Sunday is the 113th anniversary of the birthday of Bura (Davis) Shepard. She has been gone now for 23 years but her influence is still strongly felt by those of us who called her mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, or simply friend. She and her husband Will and their descendants are the reason for this family blog. The picture on the right was taken in June, 1915 when she got married at 18 years old. The white of her dress speaks of the way that she was a plain, unassuming person who never called undo attention to herself. The unexpressive look on her face was not only typical of early 20th century photographs, it also speaks of the down to earth quality she gained from her Indiana roots. And the overall softness of the picture suggests her tender heart that characterized her throughout her life.

Happy Birthday TODAY to Havilah Colgain! She is the daughter of Joan Shepard, the granddaughter of Elmer Shepard, and one of the great granddaughters of Will and Bura Shepard. The second picture I am including today shows Havilah and her boyfriend Kevin Wardle, taken earlier this year. She emailed me recently with the following.

Greetings from Salt Lake City! I attend school at Salt Lake Community College and plan on getting my associates degree and then transfer to one of the universities in the Salt Lake Valley for my bachelors. I enjoy school immensely and am open to where my educational path leads me. After school I work for the Boys and Girls Club at a local elementary school and help with an after school program for inner city youth. It is a very rewarding job.

Kevin is extremely supportive of all I want to do. We continue to rock hound and spend time with family on our days off, which can be few and far between. Kevin works nights as an Echocardiographer (ultrasound of the heart) at the hospital. On our last adventure we traveled to the Henry's Mountain area of Utah, and found saginite, petrified wood, agate, and coprolite (dinosaur poo!).

Art Colgain, my dad, just had a birthday two weeks ago. We cooked dinner for him and had a great visit. He feels good most days, and has a really good attitude about life. We still have our crying times, but they grow fewer and farther between. He works on projects around the house he and Jill built, doing all the things Jill had on her wish list.  It's a real tribute to both of them to see what he has done in her memory. He has an incredibly strong spirit.

His focus is now Thanksgiving, which is quite the family tradition for the Colgains.  We refer to it as "The Holiday of Meats".  Baked turkey, smoked turkey, deep fried turkey, ham, ribs, brisket, sushi, various smoked fishes, and this year in Kevin's honor, a Tofurkey - or tofu turkey. Thanksgiving is truly amazing at his house, and there is an open invitation to everyone to join us. The more the merrier! So to all the family reading this: anytime you are in the Salt Lake area we'd be happy to show you around and feed you.

Joan Shepard, my amazing mother, and I have had many conversations about how feeding family has always been our family's way of expressing love.  Gram gave my dad her homemade bread recipe well over twenty years ago, and you can bet he will be serving her bread at Thanksgiving. It's a powerful reminder that there are beautiful, creative, life giving ways to connect people and families even after death, divorce, and tragedy. As you prepare Thanksgiving dinner this year, take a moment and contemplate the story behind the food. You may find out some amazing things about yourself and your family!

The next couple of weeks I have asked a couple of family members to send out the weekly email while Cindy and I will be out of town. Cousin Dane Shepard will be sending out a family email the next two Fridays, and then my brother Darrell Shepard will send out a family email the week after that. Thanks so much to both of them for their willingness to share their family thoughts with us. 
 - - -
Steve

Shepard Family Update October 30, 2009

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There is nothing funny about Halloween.

This sarcastic festival reflects, rather,

an infernal demand for revenge

by children on the adult world.

~Jean Baudrillard

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from Anacortes, Washington where I find myself on this rainy weekend of Halloween! I am here to celebrate the birthday of my mother Maida Shepard. This Sunday, on the day after Halloween frighteningly enough, she will turn 85. She is nothing short of a saint in my book, which is only fitting since her birthday each year coincides with All Saints Day.  

Maida Gower was born in Mountain View, Arkansas but grew up in Okemah, Oklahoma before moving to San Diego just in time to finish High School. San Diego is where she met and married the young sailor Eugene Shepard (see the picture on the right). They had been married for 58 years when he died in 2003. She is the senior member of our particular part of the Shepard family, with children, grandchildren, and Ggrandchildren spread out across Washington, California, Texas and elsewhere.

Since this is a special birthday for Maida, I have put together a slide show of pictures of her over the years. Select this link to see the birthday slide show.

Happy Birthday today to Pam (Engan) Shepard, also of Anacortes. Pam is a member of that unique group of women who are daughters-in-law of Maida. Pam has been married to Maida's youngest son Russell Shepard for 23 years. They are the proud parents of Steven and Linda Shepard. The picture on the left shows the two birthday girls for this weekend, Maida and Pam, in a picture that was taken in the summer of 2008.

Happy Halloween! Last week I included a Halloween slide show of costumed family members over the years and invited you to figure out who those people were. Even though no one knew who everyone was, some of you made some good guesses. Here are the identities of the people in the slide show: 1 - Russ Shepard; 2 - Nathan and Cindy Shepard; 3 - Rachel Shepard; 4 - Gary Shepard (1952!); 5 and 6 - Nathan; 7 - Barbara Shepard; 8 - Nathan; 9 - Linda Shepard; 10 - Patrick Shepard; 11 - Nathan; 12 - Bura Shepard; 13 - Cindy and Steve Shepard (1980); 14 - Jeremy Ortiz; 15 - Nathan; 16 - Cindy and Steve Shepard (1971); 17 - Christopher Shepard. The music is "This Is Halloween," from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Congratulations to my sister Barbara who made the best attempt to identify everyone by getting 13 out of 17 correct. She knows her spooks and witches!

Kim Clark emailed me recently regarding the picture of Bura (Davis) Shepard that I included last week. "This brings back a memory for me. Grandmother (Gram) went to my school Halloween carnival dressed in that costume and I didn't recognized her. I forgot all about that until I saw this picture. Thanks for the memory."
- - -
Steve

Shepard Family Update October 23, 2009

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A grandmother pretends

she doesn't know who you are 

on Halloween.

~Erma Bombeck

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from home in San Diego on a day that is typically pleasant for this month of Halloween.

Mystery Person. In the spirit of the season, the first picture I am including today shows a Halloween picture of a relative of ours in cognito. Do you know the identity of this mystery person? Give it some thought before reading on. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Happy Birthday Mandi Aquiningoc! This coming Monday is the 17th birthday of Mandi Aquiningoc of Weatherford, Texas. (In case you are wondering, the mystery person is not Mandi!) Mandi is a senior this year at Weatherford High School, and after graduation hopes to attend Tarleton State University, just down the road in Stephenville, Texas. Among her favorite things is driving (she just got her license), doing hair and make-up ("Mandi's Boutique"), listening to music and hanging out with friends.

Mandi is part of a family cluster of ours that lives in Weatherford and includes: Mandi's mom Kerri, her sister Lyndsey, her uncle Jason and his girlfriend Jenny, her aunt and uncle Kelly and James Sauvage and their 2 boys, as well as her grandmother Jackie and her husband Rick. Mandi's proud grandfather Gary Shepard and his wife Cindy live in Oak Harbor, Washington. Mandi is the 2nd GGgrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard.

The second picture I am including today shows Mandi in the middle, surrounded by her sister Lyndsey on the right, cousin Steven Paul Shepard on the left, and cousins Nate and Kyle Sauvage in front. Everyone in this picture lives in Weatherford, except Steven, who lives in Anacortes, Washington. Thanks to sister Barbara for taking this picture this past summer when they were visiting in Texas.

Back to the mystery person in the first picture: thanks to cousin Dane Shepard for finding and sending this picture to me recently. Do you know who this mystery person is? That's right - it is none other than Bura (Davis) Shepard herself. This picture was taken in Winter Gardens, California (near San Diego) probably in the early 1970s, when she and Grandad were living with their son Elmer and his family. Even though Gram usually carried a serious demeanor, befitting her Midwestern roots, this Halloween get-up shows that she also had a sense of humor!

That mystery person was way too easy for most of you. Select this link to see some more costumed family members over the years. How many can you identify? I doubt there is anyone who can successfully name them all. Whoever is first to email me with the identify of the greatest number of these Halloween revelers will receive a special commendation in an upcoming family update.

If you take some photos of your young (or not-so-young) Halloween celebrants this year, send a copy to me to share with the rest of the family.
- - -
Steve

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

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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

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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