Jimmie & Dorothy Shepherd

Dorothy Wright Shepherd

May 18, 1922 – December 14, 2008

Dorothy Wright Shepherd, 86, died December 14, 2008 in Temple. Dorothy’s body was cremated and will be interred next to her husband, Jimmie George (Jim) Shepherd, at a ceremony with military honors at the Central Texas State Veteran’s Cemetery in Killeen at 9 am on July 12, 2021.

Dorothy was born in Akron, OH May 18, 1922. As a teenager, her family moved to California where she graduated from Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles. Upon graduation, she received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of California in 1944. She joined the Army Nurse Corp as a second lieutenant and served for two years as an Army nurse, mostly in the China-Burma-India theater. When the war ended, Dorothy was discharged as a first lieutenant. Following the Army, she married Jim Shepherd and they entered graduate school at North Texas College where she received a Master of Science in Psychology completing a thesis in Sociometrics on her studies centered around a group of elementary school students. Upon graduation, she and Jim accepted positions in the Beaumont Independent School District. There she taught elementary grades and published a nationally-recognized supplementary reader for first grade students. She finished her career teaching in All Saints Episcopal School in Beaumont. Upon retirement, she and her husband bought a farm in Milam county where they raised Brangus cattle and she enjoyed her Arabian horses. In 1999 they retired to the Meridian Retirement Community where she resided at her death.

She is survived by her sons, Paul and his wife, Linda, and Seth and his wife, Elaine, as well as her grandchildren, James Paul Shepherd, Nathaniel Scott Shepherd, and Dr. Sarah Katelin Shepherd.

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Jimmie George Shepherd

September 9, 1923 - June 26, 2021

Jimmie George Shepherd passed away peacefully, Saturday, June 26, 2021 at the age of 97 in his home at the Morada in Temple. Jim and his wife, Dorothy will be interred side by side at a ceremony with military honors at the Central Texas State Veteran’s Cemetery in Killeen at 9 am on July 12, 2021.

Jim was born in Lone Oak, Texas on September 9, 1923 to Duron and Mary Shepherd. He grew up in Wichita Falls and graduated from Wichita Falls High School. He served from 1943 to 1946 during World War II as a commissioned US Naval officer. He met Army nurse Dorothy Naomi Wright in San Francisco just before departing aboard the USS Miflin for Hawaii in preparation for embarking the 4th Marines for the invasion of Iwo Jima. The couple reunited after the War and married in 1946. They together raised two sons, Paul Duron Shepherd and Seth Daniel Shepherd. Jim graduated with a Master’s in physics from North Texas State College and was an avid ham radio enthusiast. He was a popular physics professor at Lamar University and part-time rancher in Beaumont, Texas from 1957 to 1987. Upon his retirement, Jim and Dorothy settled on a ranch outside Cameron, Texas before later moving to Temple to live in the Meridian Senior Living Complex in 1999. There the couple enjoyed their friends and a good game of bridge.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Duron and Mary Shepherd; his wife, Dorothy Shepherd; his sister, Frances Goodman; and granddaughter, Laura Kay Shepherd.

He is survived by his sons, Paul and his wife, Linda, and Seth and his wife, Elaine, as well as his grandchildren, James Paul Shepherd, Nathaniel Scott Shepherd, and Dr. Sarah Katelin Shepherd.