James Sheppard

The Rev. James Robert Sheppard, Jr. was born March 12, 1932 to Francis Emma Lois York Sheppard and James Robert Sheppard in Dallas, Texas.He died at his home in Mesquite, Texas, September 10, 2019.His life of joy, love and service will never be forgotten and will continue to inspire and enrich the lives of countless friends, colleagues and family. Rev. Sheppard grew up in Oak Cliff graduating from Sunset High School in 1949.As a Bison he played clarinet in the concert and military bands, lettered in basketball and was a one-hundred-percent banker.He was very active in the Sunset Presbyterian Church of which his parents were founding members.He became a “’Roo” when he attended Austin College in Sherman, Texas, first studying biology.In his Comparative Anatomy course, he caught the attention of one Lucy Hope Lawrence who would later become his wife on June 18, 1953.His major had changed to “pre-ministry” so he and Hope moved to Austin, Texas after graduating Austin College for Jim to prepare for church ministry at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.During his seminary studies, he came to love the Texas Hill Country, preaching all around Austin.After receiving his Masters of Divinity, Jim and Hope went to Llano during which time their first son Mark Stephen was born.Jim was asked to organize a new church in San Antonio, Texas developing Hope Presbyterian Church.Their daughter, Martha Ruth, was born there in the Alamo as Jim always said!From San Antonio, the family moved to Sherman for Jim to serve on the staff of Austin College as Director of Church Developments.He loved to preach at small congregations in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma on Sundays.Their third child, James Matthew, was born in Sherman on Easter Sunday in 1964. In 1968, Jim returned to full-time ministry serving the First Presbyterian Church of Sulphur Springs and Winnsboro Presbyterian Church.In 1975, Jim returned to his very first church home of Sunset Presbyterian as their pastor until his retirement in 1994.During his years of ministry, Jim lived life fully and faithfully.His love for God’s creation never failed, as he was an avid bird watcher, state and national park visitor and rock collector.He adored music and sang in the choirs in all his pastorates, especially enjoying the retirement choir phase of his life singing tenor at First Presbyterian of Mesquite, Texas. He was a voracious scholar teaching and learning through leading summer camps at Gilmont, Sunday School classes, Men’s and Women’s Bible studies, pastor’s lectionary groups and continuing education courses. With Hope he found a true and abiding love, jokingly claiming her “my first wife”.They traveled to see the majesty of God’s world in places as diverse as MoRanch in the Texas Hill Country, Big Bend, Hawaii, the mountains of Virginia and the shores of the Gulf Coast.With his children and grandchildren, Jim taught the beauty of life and living through the tending and gathering of home-grown tomatoes from his own container garden, holding summer-time “Cooking Camps” and going on “Mystery Trips” to places known only to he and Hope.Every trip no matter to where, or with whom, began with Jim reciting Psalm 121:8:“The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forward and for evermore.”The Lord surely kept our beloved Reverend, Jim, Daddy, Grandpa and GGP safe all his life and we know that he now rests in the arms of God. His parents James Robert Sheppard, Sr. and Francis Emma Lois York Sheppard Alexander, his brother and wife, Donald E. and Mildred Sheppard, and his son and wife, Mark Stephen and Mary McFeron Sheppard, preceded our precious Jim in death.He leaves to cherish his memory his wife of sixty-six plus years, Lucy Hope Lawrence Sheppard, daughter Martha Ruth and husband Kenneth Sheppard-Mahaffey, son James Matthew Sheppard, grandchildren Matthew Neill Sheppard and wife Jennifer Rose, Aaron Sheppard-Mahaffey, Hope Elizabeth Sheppard-Mahaffey and boyfriend Theodore Cooper, Stephen John Luke Sheppard and wife Vanessa, Wade Michael Sheppard, great-grand-sons Zachariah Neill Sheppard and Walter Monroe Sheppard, and step-grandchildren Deirdre Michelle and Michael Andrew McGrath.His extended family is numerous, his circle of friends and colleagues never ending, and the world a far more blessed place because of his having lived in it. A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 4:00pm.This time of remembrance and celebration will be at the First Presbyterian Church of Mesquite, Texas, 1028 South Beltline Road.