Lois Mae Watson Shepperd

Lois Mae Watson Shepperd passed away New Year’s Day, 2010 at the age of 96, in a Belton Nursing Home. She was born on November 10, 1913 to Ausie and Bertie Mae Capps Watson. She was the second oldest in her family of four brothers; Foster, Harold, Dick and Joe Watson and three sisters; Inez Buford, Osie Baker and Josie Cearley. She was the last surviving member of her family.

Lois was a lifelong resident of Salado. She attended Belle Plains School as a child and graduated from Salado High School in 1931. As far as can be determined, at the time of her death, she was the oldest living graduate of Salado High School. She was the oldest member of the Salado School Alumni Association. Her 1931 graduating class was the first class at Salado to graduate from the eleventh grade. Classes from previous years graduated at completion of the tenth grade.
Lois was a member of the first Salado Civic Center Foundation Board. The Board helped in the planning and overseeing of the renovations which later transformed “the old red school’ into the Salado Civic Center. She was also a longtime member of the Salado Monday Club and a lifetime member of the Salado Ladies Auxiliary.
Lois married Roy T. Shepperd on September 12, 1931. They had five children. She was preceded in death by her husband, who passed away in 1993, and two of her sons, William Ausie, who died in infancy and Harold Wayne who passed away in 1997. Surviving children and spouses are Lee Roy and Sue Shepperd of Lometa; C.M. (Cotton) and Elaine Shepperd of Salado and Nancy and Skip Carter of Salado. She is also survived by 4 granddaughters, 7 grandsons, 21 great grandchildren, 2 great-grand children and several nieces and nephews.
Both Roy T. and Lois were life long supporters of Salado Schools. Roy T. choose the Eagle and colors red and white to represent Salado High School in 1926 when he was asked to help coach the first boys basketball team.
The Shepperds owned and operated Shepperd’s Grocery Store on the corner of Main and Royal in Salado for thirty years. After the store was sold in the late sixties, Roy T. went on to be elected Bell County Treasurer, while Lois continued to work for the new owners for the grocery store for eleven more years. When the store was sold again, she worked nine more years for Thomas Wilkes Antiques. In all, she worked at the same location for fifty years.

Lois was a member of the Salado United Methodist Church for eighty two years. She joined the church when she was fourteen years old. Throughout the years, she was a faithful member and her contributions to the church were many. She was known for her brownies at the fifth Sunday lunches and her grape and plum jellies were legendary. For many years, after her children were grown, she and Roy T. loved to play Mr. and Mrs. Clause at the church’s annual Christmas parties.
Funeral services were held January 4 in the Salado United Methodist Church Historic Chapel – the church she joined when she was fourteen years old. She was interred at the Salado Cemetery  with Joe Bentley officiating. Pallbearers were her grandsons: Jeffery Shepperd, Michael Shepperd, Regan Shepperd, Buddy Shepperd, David Rembert and great grandson Scott Shepperd. Honorary pallbearers wer her grandsons: Kenneth Wayne Shepperd, Chris and Patrick Brotherton and Jeff England and her great grandsons.
Memorials may be sent to Salado School Alumni Association, PO Box 791, Salado, Texas 76571; the Salado Cemetery Association, PO Box 21, Salado, Texas 76571 or the Salado United Methodist Church.