Obituary

Shephard, William Grady

HALE CENTER ? Funeral services for William Grady Shephard, 92, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Ken Rowland, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Plainview, officiating.

Burial will be in Plainview Memorial Park by Freeman-Abell Funeral Home.

Mr. Shephard died at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2000, in Spring Branch Medical Center in Houston.

He was born March 6, 1908, in Quinlan. He moved with his family to Hale Center in 1925 and attended his senior year at Hale Center High School. He attended Texas Tech and after leaving Tech he worked as herdsman for registered Hereford cattle ranches in the Texas Panhandle, Iowa and Nebraska for 11 years. He returned to Hale County in February of 1939 and started farming the land he purchased east of Hale Center.

Mr. Shephard was an innovative farmer and cattleman. He started farming with horses in 1939 and purchased one of the first tractors and tractor-mounted cotton strippers in the area.

He expanded his farming operations in Hale, Deaf Smith and Swisher counties and was a pioneer in feeding cattle in feedlots in the Texas Panhandle.

He had served on numerous boards including the Hale Center Wheat Growers, Plainview Stock Show, Plainview Production Credit Association, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and Texas Cattle Feeders Association. He served as president of several of these organizations.

He served on an advisory committee to the Houston Federal Intermediate Credit Bank and National Advisory Committee to the Farm Credit System in Washington D.C. He was strong proponent of the local agricultural economy, a supporter of the local 4-H and FFA projects and gave many talks to groups.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church.

On Nov. 5, 1932, he married Gladys Patterson in Sayre, Okla. She died June 21, 19991.

Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Pat and Roseanna Shephard of Hale Center; a daughter, Sara Bobo of Houston; three grandchildren, Mrs. Michael (Rosemary) Peggram of Hale Center, Mrs. Randy (Patti) Mandrell of Lubbock and Cade Shephard of College Station; and three great-grandchildren, Kyle and Katelyn Peggram of Hale Center and William Brady Mandrell of Lubbock.

The family will receive friends at Freeman-Abell Funeral Home from 6-7:30 p.m. Friday.

Plainview Daily Herald ? Dec. 14, 2000