Happy Halloween Tomorrow! October 31, 2013

Life's no fun
without a good scare.
~Danny Elfman

Happy Spooky Day tomorrow! Even here on our Cruise people are getting into the Holloween Spirit with costumes and other holiday activities.

Happy Birthday Pam! Yester- day, October 30, was the birthday of Pam Engan Shepard who has lived all her 40-something years in Anacortes, Washington. Pam is the mother of Steven and Linda Shepard. Best wishes to Pam and many happy returns of the day!

The first picture shows Pam (second from right) with Russ and their children Linda and Steven. This picture was taken this past summer at the Shepard family reunion in Anacortes, Washington.

Mom's Birthday. Tomorrow is the birthday of my mother Maida Shepard of Anacortes, Washington. It is hard to believe that she has lived in Washington State for over 35 years now! In 1978 she and husband Eugene moved to Anacortes from San Diego where they raised their 6 children. 

Maida is celebrating Halloween, as well as her birthday, by taking a Hawaiian cruise with me and Cindy and Cindy's mom Paula Harris. So far it has been a wonderful adventure and the four of us look forward to the rest of our journey at sea.

The second picture was taken this past summer and shows Maida giving her great grandson Logan A. Shepard a computer lesson. Look closely in her eyes and you can see what sophisticated lesson she is teaching him.

Happy Halloween! In celebration of our strange family on this strangest of American holidays, the following photo presentation is offered. It shows many of our our older and younger family members from various locations around the country, in Halloween costumes and other holiday poses. Some of these pictures are recent and others from many years ago. 

"This is Halloween..."

  

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Steve Shepard

An Adventure Begins, October 24, 2013

It is easier to build strong children

than to repair broken adults.

~Frederick Douglass

Hello Family and Friends and greetings to all of you as October rapidly moves toward its spooky conclusion.

Happy 21st! This Saturday, October 26 is the 21st birthday of Mandi Aquiningoc of Mineral Wells, Texas. Mandi was born in San Diego but almost 15 years ago moved with her family to Texas where she has made her home ever since. She and boyfriend Steven Bowman are the parents of little Kambree Kay who was born back in June. Happy 21st birthday and best wishes to Mandi!

The first picture was taken 2 weeks ago in Texas and shows Mandi holding little Kambree (look at those shoes!) with Steven Bowman on the right.

Pacific Adventure Redux. By the time you read this Cindy and I will be out on the open sea, on a Cruise ship heading west from San Diego. We are with our moms, Paula Harris and Maida Shepard on this pacific adventure redux, the four of us having made this same trip back in the fall of 2008. 

We left Southern California two days ago and will be away for two weeks, relaxing on this vast ocean, sipping drinks and playing games as we catch a view of an occasional dolphin or flying fish. In the course of our journey we will make a couple of stops at a few of the islands. And we will enjoy each other's company as we celebrate a few personal milestones, the details of which I will share with you as we go along.

The second picture shows Cindy, Paula and Maida as they get ready to board the cruise ship. The adventure begins.
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Steve Shepard

The Fire In Me Now, Oct 17, 2013

Perhaps my best years are gone,

but I wouldn't want them back.

Not with the fire in me now.

~Samuel Beckett

Hello family and friends, and greetings to all of you from San Diego where October is bringing warm weather and pleasant days.

Bill Russell, 1908-1997. Tomorrow, October 18, is the birthday of my late uncle Bill Russell, who was married to my aunt Pauline Shepard Russell for 62 years until he died in San Diego in 1997. Uncle Bill was originally from Oklahoma; he married Pauline Shepard in Two Buttes, Colorado in 1935; but he then moved in 1940 to Southern California where he and Pauline raised their family and lived the rest of their lives.

The first picture is an old one and shows Bill and Pauline in San Diego in 1957. During the 1950s and 1960s Bill and Pauline and their children Rex and Beverly were among the larger family of Will and Bura Davis Shepard who were close and would often gather for holiday meals or attend worship together at the El Cajon Blvd. Church of Christ.

Bill and Pauline have two grandchildren alive today: Eric Russell and Shannon Wilk. The second picture shows Eric and his wife Ruthie (top) who live in Nevada (although this picture was taken while on a Hawaiian vacation). The bottom half of the picture shows Shannon and her daughter Emma, who live in Kansas.

Happy Birthday Kori Boyd. Tomorrow is also the birthday of Kori Boyd of Coronado, California, one of the great granddaughters of Will and Bura Davis Shepard, and the daughter of Darren Boyd. She is a student at Coronado High School. Happy Birthday to Kori!

Vicki Gower Johnston's 80th Birthday! And finally, tomorrow is the 80th birthday of my aunt Vicki Gower Johnston, who lives with her husband Duke Johnston in Oak Harbor, Washington. Vicki is the younger daughter of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. She has the unique distinction of being the only one in our family who was born in Okemah, Oklahoma. 

Leroy and Nola and their family lived in Okemah (about an hour's drive east of Oklahoma City) for 17 years, from 1925 to 1942. It was something of an extended sojourn on their way from Arkansas, where they were both born, to San Diego, where they settled for the rest of their life together. 

Vicki spent the first 9 years of her life in Oklahoma, then lived in San Diego for many years. For almost 40 years now she has lived on Whidby Island in Northwest Washington. She is having serious struggles these days with health issues related to aging. Our prayers and best wishes are with her, her daughter Paula who is her primary care giver, and all her family.

The third picture, taken in Anacortes, Washington in 1995, shows Vicki's mother Nola Shannon Gower on the left, then Vicki, then her older daughter Paula Tuzzolino, and on the right, Vicki's granddaughter Heather Cotton.
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Steve Shepard

Magic Mirrors, Oct 10, 2013

Family faces are magic mirrors.

Looking at people who belong to us,

we see the past, present, and future.

~Gail Lumet Buckley

Update on Logan Joseph Shepard. One of the babies born into our family in recent months is Logan Joseph Shepard, who was born July 24, the son of Patrick and Nicole Shepard of Bothell, Washington. He is the youngest member of our family and the first grandchild of Darrell and Mary Shepard. 

Logan spent the first several weeks of his life in the hospital as a result of a difficult delivery. Patrick tells me that "Logan is doing very well. He has been home almost a month and is almost 3 months old! He is making good progress in his development and growing quick! He still is learning how to eat orally but doing good at it! We are so lucky to have him, he is our miracle baby! We appreciate the whole family's prayers and thoughts."

The first picture shows a pensive Logan with his companion teddy bear. Our best wishes are with him and his parents Patrick and Nicole and his entire proud family!

And Kambree Kay. The other baby that was born into our family this summer was Kambree Kay Bowman, daughter of Mandi Aquiningoc and Steven Bowman of Mineral Wells, Texas who entered this world June 14, 2013.

Mandi tells me that they "are doing great. Kambree will be four months old October 14th :) She is just getting so big :)  and I love her to pieces."

Looking at these two babies, you can tell they are a part of the same family, even though they are second cousins, once removed. We are very blessed to have these young ones among us. They prove the truth of the words of Gail Lumet Buckley about family faces being magic mirrors, because in them "we see the past, the present, and the future".

And now for something entirely different. Halloween is fast approaching. Again this year I plan to put together a family photo/musical presentation with a Halloween theme. In recent months I have collected some new Halloween pictures of family members that I will add to the presentation. If you have a favorite Halloween picture (recent or old, of children or adults) that you would like for me to include, please send it my way.

The third picture is an oldie, indeed the oldest Halloween picture I have. It shows my brother Gary -- great grandfather of little Kambree in the picture above -- when he was just a few years older than she is now. This picture was taken at Halloween in San Diego in 1951.
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Steve Shepard

Finding a Fallen Hero, October 3, 2013

Family isn’t something that’s supposed to be static, or set.

It’s always evolving, turning into something else.

~Sarah Dessen

I mentioned recently in this blog that a few weeks ago my mom and I visited her birth town, Mountain View, Arkansas. A genealogical trek like that is an opportunity to meet some relatives for the first time, to see where our ancestors once lived, to visit some beautiful towns or cities, and to be graveyard jackrabbits. This particular trip was all of that. And more.

Mountain View, Arkansas. We stayed in Mountain View with mom's first cousin Bernice Beckham. Mom and Bernice are both grandchildren of Sam and Finetta Dearien Shannon, early settlers in Northern Arkansas. While in Mountain View I was fortunate enough to meet several of my second cousins for the first time. One of them was Bernice's daughter Jana Richardson, CFO of a nearby health care facility who was exceptionally hospitable, even for Stone County, Arkansas. (See first picture of Bernice, Jana and Maida at the Shannon Family reunion.)

The Saturday evening of the reunion, Jana took it upon herself to drive us to a beautiful scenic overlook, which on this particular evening provided a remarkable view of the town. Jana made it clear that this was a special place, as she oohed and ahhed, revealing her affection for her hometown, where she has lived her whole life, where her mother has lived her whole life, where my mother was born, and where both my grandparents, Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower, were born and raised. It was a lovely sight as the setting sun allowed its evening glow to give Mountain View its best light.

After basking sufficiently in the view, Jana decided to show us the thing for which her town is most famous: music. Mountain View is known as "The Folk Music Capital of the World". (Google that phrase and Mountain View comes up every time.) Each evening during warm weather crowds of people gather in the middle of town and hear pickers and singers whoop it up and have a good time. (My guitar pickin' brother Darrell would be in "hog-heaven" -- an Arkansas phrase.) That Saturday evening we strolled through at least three different venues where Folk Music was on display to the delight of hundreds of spectators. I couldn't have imagined a better way to experience the heart of this historic town.

One of the music venues was the steps of the Stone County Courthouse, just a few blocks west of one of only two stoplights in the entire town. We listened for a while to some wonderful, heartfelt folk music, while children danced in front of the singers, putting their best skills on display without a hint of embarrassment. The talent of these young two-steppers made that evening all the more impressive. Clearly Mountain Viewers of all ages take their music seriously. This was small town America at its best.

Gone But Not Forgotten. As we moved along to another music setting we happened to pass by a memorial in front of the Court House that read In Loving Remembrance of Our Stone County Sons. (See second picture.) "I wonder if your uncle is listed here", I asked mom as we walked by. I had learned just a few months ago that Grandpa Gower had a brother, 3 years older than him, who died in World War I in 1918 at just 22 years old. It took but a moment to locate him in the second column of names, the third one down: Lloyd Gower. As that Saturday evening drew to a close, my connection to this small town was growing stonger than I had expected. 

A day or two later cousin Jana continued to practice her best Arkansan hospitality -- this time with husband Aubrey, also a Mountain View native -- when they guided us to a couple of the local cemeteries. One was Cooper Hill Cemetery, easily accessible about 9 miles west of town on SR66. It's a beautiful, grassy location, protected by several lazy cows, who lounged just outside the fence surrounding the graves. They stood as mindless sentinels, quietly suspicious of strange visitors like us, as they tail-slapped the flies off their backs, all the while remaining wary of us, as if we were grave robbers or dangerous hunters.

It was at Cooper Hill, under the careful gaze of those mindless sentinels, that we found the grave of WWI soldier Lloyd W. Gower (1896-1918). Although he died 95 years ago this week, his headstone is still fairly easy to read and continues to stand as a solemn reminder that we are descended from brave, sacrificial folk to whom we owe an immeasurable debt. 

At this beautiful burial ground we also found the graves of Lloyd's grandparents (my great great grandparents) Leroy and Ellen Taylor Gower, among the earliest Gower settlers in Arkansas. (See picture of Lloyd Gower's grave, top; and mom and me at Leroy and Ellen Gower's grave, bottom.)

It's not clear when I will ever return to Mountain View, Arkansas, but the few days we spent there in early September showed us that there is a family presence in that place -- among both the living and the dead -- that will ever be welcoming and hospitable. For countless generations to come, our family history in Stone County will be a touchstone from which to appreciate our proud Gower and Shannon heritage.
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Steve Shepard

Summer Fun, September 26, 2013

We are all intertwined in one another's story.

We are all a part of each other's communities

despite our seeming differences.

~Ciona D. Rouse

Greetings to all of you from San Diego as summer draws to a close and fall has officially begun.

This Sunday is the birthday of Cathrina Clark, wife of Jerry Clark, of Lubbock, Texas. Best wishes to Cathrina for a wonderful birthday. The first picture shows Cathrina with her husband of 7 years Jerry Clark.

Cathrina: It's been another great year! I'm feeling very blessed this year. New job, more time off. I love being on the same work schedule as Jerry! Have so much to be thankful for. Glad Jerry was able to make the reunion. He enjoyed seeing everybody! Your grandkids are precious! Enjoy!

This Sunday, September 29 is also the birthday of little Alexandria Cotton, another Texan in our family, who will turn two years old. She is the daughter of Heather and Sean Cotton and the granddaughter of my cousin Paula Harrell Tuzzolino. Lexi and her sister are the two Ggranddaughters of Vicki Gower Johnston of Oak Harbor, Washington. Lexi and her family live in San Antonio, Texas.

With the arrival of fall, I am reminded of how quickly the seasons change. In the last few months, in all of our families, there has been lots of travels and activity, milestones and special memories and, hopefully, plenty of summer fun. The following photo presentation celebrates our family and shows a sampling of all the various activities, births, reunions, vacations, and a wide variety of happy events.

  

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Steve Shepard

Reflections on a Journey, September 19, 2013

Families are messy.

Sometimes the best we can do

is remind each other

that we're related for better or for worse...

and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.

~Rick Riordan 

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from Northern California where Cindy and I find ourselves during this extended time away from home.

Later this month is the 92nd wedding anniversary of my late grandparents Leroy Gower and Nola Shannon Gower. They were married in Mountain View, Arkansas on September 29, 1921 when grandpa Leroy was a young man of 22 and grandma Nola was a just a teenager of 18. They both have been gone now for many years, but their influence remains in the lives of all of us who knew them.

They were both born near Mountain View, but after they married and then had their first two children (Hank and Maida), they left Arkansas and migrated westward as did many other family and friends. Their first move was to Okemah, Oklahoma; after 17 years there they moved to San Diego where they lived almost all the rest of their lives.

The first picture was taken in 1953, in Yosemite National Park, during a memorable family vacation. It was taken about 10 years after the Gowers had moved to California. It shows Nola and Leroy with me sitting in front of them. This image is from an old, wrinkled photograph, hence the marks and scratches. 

Their early years in Mountain View and then their move to Okemah have been on my mind a lot recently as a result of a visit my mom and I made to Arkansas and then Oklahoma earlier this month. Spending a few days in Mountain View gave me a much better feel for the kind of people they were: their simple needs, their religious beliefs, their down to earth approach to life, their love of family and neighbors, their easy going ways, their acceptance of hard work, and their willingness to take with grace whatever life brought them.

After a few days in Arkansas, mom and I drove from Mountain View to Okemah, Oklahoma and made the same 300 mile journey that mom had made as a baby back in the fall of 1925 with her brother Hank and her parents Leroy and Nola.

The second picture was taken in a museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas, one of the stops on the journey to Okemah from northern Arkansas. It shows a typical wagon from the early 20th century and may have been the kind of transportation Leroy and Nola used to get to their new home in Oklahoma. It wouldn't have been a very smooth ride -- especially for the 2 little ones -- but it would have been a common way for a young family to make the 300 mile journey in the 1920s.

Mom and I took it slow when we drove that same route recently and it still was an easy day's drive for us. We wound along SR9 out of the Arkansas hills, past towns like Fox and Peed, and then suddenly found the 21st Century when we joined super highway I-40, which took us all the way to Okemah. For them, on dusty bumpy dirt roads, where every creek was an adventure and every Indian sighting made them wary, the journey a century ago must have taken several days, perhaps a week or more. Mom as a 1 year old, and her brother Hank as a 3 year old, made the journey even more challenging for 26 year old Leroy and his sturdy young 22 year old bride Nola.

When we visited Okemah, we stopped at the old home on 4th St, the schools way across town on 2nd St, the Sonic Drive-In out on the Highway, and City Hall in the middle of town (which seemed little more than a one person office). Our first stop however was Highland Cemetery. The only members of our family still left in Okemah reside in that peaceful place on the hill just north of town. Among our kinfolk there are Leroy's parents George and Serena Turner Gower. The second picture shows the Gower headstone in that cemetery with the individual flat stones of George and Serena just behind the family headstone and to the left.

Being at these historical family sites and musing on the challenges of travel and migration gives me a greater appreciation for these ancestors of ours and all they endured to bring us to where we are today.
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Steve Shepard

Not As Bad As It Sounds, September 12, 2013

Even the smallest act of service,

the simplest act of kindness,

is a way to honor those we lost,

a way to reclaim that spirit of unity

that followed 9-11.

~President Obama

Hello family and friends. Greetings to all of you from Alameda, California on this day after 9-11.

Happy Birthday to Kelly Shepard Sauvage whose special day is today! My niece Kelly is originally from San Diego, but has lived with her family in Weatherford, Texas since 2000. She and husband James stay busy with their respective jobs and the many activities of their two boys Nate and Kyle.

The first picture was taken two weeks ago when a number of our family were gathered together at their home on Del Rio Court in Weatherford. It shows Kelly in the middle sharing a cheeky moment with her older son Nate. Also in the picture are Kelly's mother Jackie Perry on the right of Granbury, Texas, her niece Mandi Aquiningoc of Mineral Wells, Texas on the left, and me in the upper left.

65 And Counting. This past Monday was my 65th Birthday, which, as it turns out, is really not as bad as it sounds. The big day started, unlikely enough, in the tiny little nowhere town of Lee Vining, California, in the Eastern part of California just outside Yosemite National Park. In all honesty, Lee Vining was actually not a bad place to begin the 66th year of my life.

Granddaughter Preslea and I had driven there just the night before from the San Francisco Bay Area. We were there to pick up our son and father Nathan, who had just finished a hike to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. We had to drive the long way around to get to Lee Vining, in order to avoid the massive and historic Rim Fire which continues to char acreage in the mountains of California.

Memories of Yosemite. Being there gave me a chance to ponder the various times my family and I have been in the remarkable California playground of Yosemite over the years, camping in the Valley, day hiking the many trails, backpacking the high country, climbing Half Dome, watching the "fire fall", driving the incredibly scenic roads, and marveling at the amazing beauty of this national treasure.

Among my most memorable moments in Yosemite was the time in 1965 when my sister Linda and I - she was 14 and I was 16 - hiked from the Valley floor to the top of Yosemite Falls with some other teens. We took the strenuous 3.8 mile trail that switch backs to the top just to the west of the falls. Less than half way up she and I left the main trail and cautiously scrambled over some rocks and made our way to the water fall itself. We found a natural cave-like walkway that took us behind the roaring water as it tumbled 2,400 feet into the Valley. I can still remember it was very loud, nearly dark and dangerously wet on the slick granite beneath our feet. We stood there entranced by the rush of the water and the sacredness of that precarious place. After several moments we retraced our steps and caught up to the group heading to the top where the view was awesome. But our time behind the falls was the most profound experience of that day and will remain forever etched in my memory.

My very first visit to YNP was a dozen years before the water fall experience, when I was just 4 years old. My father, grandfather and other family members went camping in the Valley and hiked the Vernal Falls trail during our time there. My vague recollection of that particular hike came back to me just last Saturday when I hiked that very same trail again 60 years later. This time, however, instead of being WITH my father and grandfather, I WAS the father and grandfather trekking with our son and grandchild. Hiking that trail remains a wonderful experience even today and a thrill to share with family.

The second picture (above) is from that summer of '53 trip to Yosemite and shows my grandmother Nola Shannon Gower standing in the Merced River keeping watch over me (on the left) and my siblings Linda and Gary. Select this link to see a photo presentation of our 1953 trip to Yosemite, which I included in this blog a few years ago.

The third picture shows me, son Nathan and granddaughter Preslea this past Saturday as we began our hike of the Vernal Falls Trail in Yosemite.
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Steve Shepard

The Arkansas Connection, September 5, 2013

Your past is just a story.

And once you realize this,

it has no power over you.

~Chuck Palahniuk

What a great experience the last few days have been in the town of Mountain View, Arkansas, where my Shannon and Gower ancestors had strong roots. For the first time my mom Maida and I attended the Shannon Family Reunion, held each year on Labor Day weekend in this historic town in Northern Arkansas. We stayed with mom's cousin Bernice Beckham, whose family graciously welcomed us. 

The first picture shows cousins Maida Shepard and Bernice Beckham side by side in Mountain View, the left half taken about 1940, the other half just last weekend.

1,700 miles separate Mountain View from San Diego, and in some ways it feels like a great distance, culturally, linguistically, and socially. But the feeling of family spirit this past week united each of us, whether Shannon kin from right here or from far away.

Mountain View, and Stone County in which it sits, is a beautiful place. I can understand why our Gower and Shannon ancestors settled here in the 19th century. Today the hills of Northern Arkansas are a wonderful vacation destination, and understandably so. Being here makes me appreciate even more the sacrifice and difficulty my grandparents experienced leaving here and settling first in Oklahoma and then in San Diego for the second half of their lives.

Shannon is the maiden name of my grandmother Nola Shannon Gower, who was born in Mountain View, and is where she met and married grandpa Leroy Gower in 1921. It is also where their first two children, Maida and Hank, were born in the early 1920s. Grandma Gower was not at the reunion, of course, having died in 2004. But I could feel her presence as I mingled among her many kinfolk.

Being in Mountain View gave us a chance to visit the final resting place of some of our ancestors, including my Shannon great grandparents Samuel Pickens Shannon (1859-1931) and his wife Finetta Dearien Shannon (1861-1960). Finding Gray Cemetery where they reside was an adventure in itself.

From Mountain View we headed west on AR 66 for a few miles and turned left at Happy Hallow Rd., which after just a few miles turned to dirt. After several more dusty miles we arrived at the Oyd Johnson farm and turned right on Bobcat Trail. In a phone call earlier that day, Mrs Johnson indicated it was the way to the cemetery. "If the sign is still there", she added.

As we slowly crept along Bobcat trail, we sought some sign, any sign, that a cemetery was nearby. But there was nothing. We did see an unlocked gate in the fence on the left so I got out of the car to investigate. Beyond the gate I saw some indication of faint tire tracks, but other than that there was nothing but bushes. 

After walking a ways I happen to notice a pile of stones just to my right. Kicking away some overgrown plants I drew closer and looked carefully at what appeared to be a grave surrounded by a small stone wall. To the left of that grave I noticed a flat headstone on the ground. I brushed away some leaves and uncovered a headstone that read "Finnetta Clemintine Shannon", with her dates on it. Her first and middle names were misspelled, but it was definitely her, my great grandmother. (see picture)

Next to her, beneath a badly weathered and barely readable headstone, was her husband of 50 years, the father of her 9 children, Samuel Pickens Shannon, my great grandpa. 

The joy of finding these two was tempered a bit by it being such an overgrown graveyard. They both deserve better. One could walk within a few feet of the place and not notice that they were there. As I carefully trudged around some more I counted 34 graves, only 4 of which had readable names on the grave markers. Many of them just had rocks for headstones. Nevertheless, to find Sam and Finetta was special. 

We drove the dusty road back to Mountain View with the sense that we had accomplished something important. The picture of our family's history was a little more complete.

- - -
Steve Shepard

Howdy Y'All, August 29, 2013

We are not what has happened in our past, 

nor what we have done...

We are who we choose to become... TODAY!

~Timber Hawkeye 

(Buddhist Boot Camp)

Greetings to all of you from the home of my niece Kelly and her husband James Sauvage in Weatherford, Texas. My mother Maida Gower Shepard and I are here visiting family we don't get to see too often.

Happy Birthday Lyndsey. We are here in the Lone Star State on the birthday of Lyndsey Aquiningoc, older daughter of Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc, daughter of my brother Gary Shepard. Happy birthday to Lyndsey who turns 23 today! The first picture shows Lyndsey with her cousin Nate Sauvage at Lyndsey's birthday dinner earlier this evening.

Around the year 2000 this part of our family moved here from San Diego, and after a decade of life here, with 3 new births, they seem to be settling in quite nicely. Over 200 years ago our ancestors migrated from the East Coast to the West, ever moving westward and southward. Even though they settled for periods of time in places like Indiana and Oklahoma and Texas, the move westward continued for some of them until they reached San Diego in the mid 20th century.

But now some of us have returned to the area of our 19th century roots here in north Texas and Oklahoma. Even though I sense that there is still some longing for life in Southern California, this move appears to be a permanent one for these family members. At least as permanent as any move can be in these day of easy travel and relocation.

A Great Great. One of the reasons we made this trip was so that my mom Maida could meet her first Great Great Granddaughter Kambree Kay Bowman, daughter of Mandi Aquiningoc and Steven Bowman. The second picture shows the new momma Mandi on the left next to Great Great Grandma Maida Shepard  holding baby Kambree, with grandmother Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc next to them and auntie Lyndsey on the right.

Here is a 12 generation lineage from Kambree to 18th century Irish immigrants Thomas and Eigness Shannon. 

• Kambree Kay Bowman (b. 2013)
• Mandi Aquiningoc (b. 1992) and Steven Bowman
• Kerri Shepard (b. 1968) and Manuel Aquiningoc (1961-1992)
• Gary Shepard (b. 1946) and Jackie Enderle (b. 1947)
• Maida Gower (b. 1924) and Eugene Shepard (1921-2003)
• Nola Shannon (1903-2004) and Leroy Gower (1899-1974)
• Samuel Pickens Shannon (1858-1930) and Finetta Dearien (1861-1960)
• David Reid Shannon (1821-1864) and Peggy Ann Gray (1829-1899)
• David McKnight Shannon (1790-1860) and Anna Pickens (1785-1867)
• David Shannon (1756-1823) and Jane McKnight (1759-1830)
• Samuel Shannon (1727-1811) and Jean Reid (1725-1806)
• Thomas Shannon (1686-1737) and Eigness Reid (1686-1737) - Irish Immigrants

On To Arkansas. There is a reason I traced Kambree's roots through her Shannon Irish heritage rather than some other part of her heritage (including her grandfather's Guamanian heritage). This weekend my mom and I will be attending the annual Shannon family reunion in beautiful Mountain View, Arkansas. My next post will include reflections on that event.

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Steve Shepard