Jean A. Shepherd (nee Jean Francis Adams) passed away on Aug. 22, 2019 in the Laramie Care Center, Laramie, Wyo.. Jean was born on Oct. 18, 1922 in Rawlins, Wyo. and was raised in Baggs, Wyo. She was the oldest of five children, who descended from an early homestead ranching family. The Adams's' roots began in the late 1800's in the Little Snake River Valley, where they owned and operated Dad, Wyo .; one of the stagecoach stops on the Overland Trail.
Ms. Adams attended one year of college at Denver University before transferring to the University of Wyoming where she earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education in the 1940s. Her first teaching job was for the Logan family of the Cross L Ranch on the Sweetwater River at the base of Split Rock. As a young teacher during World War II, she also taught in Powell and Thermopolis, Wyo.. Jean was teaching in Rawlins, Wyo. in 1949 when she met and later married Robert W. (Bob) Shepherd, a World War II veteran who was teaching mathematics and FFA in Baggs, Wyo.
Together their teaching careers took them to Kemmerer and Rock Springs, Wyo.. They spent two years in Judith Gap, Montana before launching their teaching profession in Big Piney, Wyo.. Jean had a passion for early childhood education, and her stories of first grade experiences throughout rural communities were inspiring, as well as entertaining. She had great pride in knowing that no student left her classroom without the capacity to read. After living in Big Piney for over a decade, she and her husband moved to Albion, Neb., a larger community where they could expand their teaching careers.
During the 1970s in Nebraska, Jean worked on her master's degree in Special Education. There she developed the rural special education program for parochial schools scattered throughout the region. Her schedule took her to many small parishes on back country roads where she was one of two laypersons to provide the schools with special education protocols. Following the Viet Nam war, Jean was asked by the Nebraska refugee resettlement council if she would teach English to Vietnamese refugees. She readily accepted this challenge, and soon found that she was teaching English to adults who had been surgeons in medical hospitals in South East Asia before applying for refugee status.
In the early 1980s, Jean and Bob returned to Wyoming to be closer to family. The coal mining town of Hanna, Wyo. was booming, and they opened a business to serve the miners and local ranchers. Jean never gave up her interest in teaching, and after Bob's passing, she retired to Saratoga, where she tutored adults and children in reading, as well as participated with friends in many local community activities.
When Jean was 90 years old, she moved to the Ivinson Home for Ladies in Laramie, Wyo. By this time, she had a well-honed sense of humor and ample time for "high jinx" with local bridge players. Later, in the Laramie Care Center, Jean continued counseling the CNAs and nurses about the importance of higher education, and she always did so with well-placed, humorous barbs. At the time of her passing, she was entertaining and laughing with everyone who came to visit.
Jean A. Shepherd was an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star and Daughters of the Nile. Jean is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Kurt and Elizabeth (Betsy) Shepherd of Whitewater, Colo., Ruth A. Shepherd, Laramie, and one grandchild, Sharde Shepherd, who is living and working in the vineyards of Santa Barbara, Calif.
A memorial service for Jean will be held on Friday, Sept. 13th at Montgomery-Stryker Funeral Home, 2133 East Rainbow Ave., Laramie, Wyo, at 1 p.m. Linda Fleming, Episcopal minister from Baggs, Wyo. will officiate and the Ivinson Home for Ladies, will host a reception at 2:30 p.m. following the service at 2017 Grand Ave., Laramie, Wyo.
Memorial donations may be made to the Ivinson Home for Ladies, 2017 Grand Ave.,
Laramie, WY 82070 and/or to the Laramie Care Center, 503 S. 18th ST. Laramie, WY 82070.
Go to http://www.montgomerystryker.com to send condolences or to sign the online guestbook.
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