Lucy Hope Lawrence Sheppard

Lucy Hope Lawrence Sheppard was born September 6, 1932 at Baylor Hospital, Dallas, Texas, to Hugh Walker and Virginia Catherine Longley Lawrence. She had one brother, Hill, and numerous cousins, aunts, and uncles. Hope attended school in Mesquite, Texas, graduating as Valedictorian for the Class of 1949. She then went to Austin College, in Sherman, Texas, as a science major. In a sophomore chemistry class, Hope chose a stool to sit upon that proceeded to split down the middle. To her rescue came another student, Jimmie - James Robert Sheppard, Jr. - and the rest is a love story for the ages!

Hope and Jim were married June 18, 1953, at the First Methodist Church in Mesquite. They moved to Austin for Jim to attend Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary from which Jim graduated in 1956 to become an ordained minister of word and sacrament. While in Austin, Hope had started her teaching career. They shared a dedication for ministry serving congregations in Llano, Burnett, San Antonio, Sherman, Sulphur Springs, and Dallas. In each town, Hope taught science in the local schools. In 1985, they moved back to Hope's childhood home in Mesquite and renovated the house her father had built in the late 1930's. She continued to teach at Wilkinson Middle School until retiring in 1997. During their retirement years, Jim and Hope were able to travel to many places such as Colorado, Washington D.C. and state, Hawaii, and all over their beloved state of Texas. They always took an extra empty suitcase with them that came home filled with the native rocks they found in their adventures.

Hope was mother to Mark Stephen, Martha Ruth, and James Matthew. Mark and Matthew predeceased her in 2018 and 2022 respectively, as did her beloved Jim in 2019. She is survived by her daughter, Martha, and her husband, Ken, of Mesquite and their two children Aaron, of Mesquite, and Hope Elizabeth Cooper and her husband, Theodore, of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is also survived by grandson Matthew Neill Sheppard, his wife Jennifer Rose and their son, Zachariah Neill of Plano, grandson Wade Michael Sheppard of Garland, grandson Stephen John Luke Sheppard and his wife Vanessa, and their three children Walter, Zoey and Luke, and step-granddaughter Deirdre Michelle McGrath, all of Mesquite.

Surviving her, as well, are extended Sheppard, Lawrence, Longley, Motley family, and friends too, too numerous to name. Just pass by most elementary and middle schools in MISD to see a family name related to Hope. Hope was active in Historic Mesquite Inc., providing much information and advice for the development of the Opal Lawrence Historical Park and other projects bringing the past to the here and now. She became a member of the Mesquite Association of Retired School Employees (MARSE) and remained all her adult life as a participant, officer and life-time member of the Presbyterian Women's Association and the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Hope loved classical music, "The Weather Channel", gardening, rock hunting and collecting pottery or whatever else caught her eye. She loved to tell her family and friends that she became a geologist because "when you kiss a rock, you'll never kiss another frog". She relished and shared the history of her family, her hometown of Mesquite, her state of Texas, and the life and loves of her global community. She was a force to be reckoned with and will be greatly missed.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

"Sonnet XLIII". Elizabeth Barrett Browning.