Rose Shepard

Obituary of Rose Shepard

Rose Ellen Shepard (Gordon) of Mapleton, who would have celebrated her 62nd Birthday in early October, peacefully passed away September 10, 2012. She had bravely and tenaciously been battling her second bout of cancer for the past two and a half years. Rose was surrounded by her family and friends and remained active as a driving force in their daily lives right up until the end. She will be remembered for her kindness, generosity, and dedication to those she loved, which include her family, both immediate and extended, and the Mapleton/Florence community where she lived and worked as a rural mail carrier and postal employee. We wish her peace as she joins her beloved husband Jarl, who preceded her in death in 2002. She is survived by two daughters, Melony Teague of Fairfax, VA and Andrea Holloway of Salem, OR. In addition, Rose leaves six grandchildren; Alicia, Heather, and Zachary Holloway of the Eugene area, whom she raised for the past 16 years as her own, and Eli, Max, and Phoebe Teague of Fairfax, VA., and one great-granddaughter Wednesday Berge. Rose was a lifetime resident of Lane County, born in Florence, OR October 4, 1950, to parents Ray and Bonna Gordon (Perkins). Rose spent her entire childhood in Deadwood, OR with her surviving siblings, Rick Gordon, Bruce Gordon, Dianna Kent, Cora Crossen, and Betty Foster. Rose will be especially missed by all the nieces, nephews, and cousins that she and husband Jarl both loved to take camping, hunting and fishing over the years whenever they would visit the Florence/Mapleton area and the annual hunting/camping trips to Central Oregon. Rose attended Mapleton schools exclusively where she graduated in 1968 and married her high school sweetheart, Jarl Shepard, that same year. Rose was an avid community volunteer and helped organize both school and community activities like the annual Christmas party and Rhododendron Parade entries. The last twenty years of her lifetime Rose worked on many different mail routes in the Mapleton/Florence area. It was work she enjoyed. As her routes changed and increased so did her circle of friends, continuing to expand ever wider and larger every year. She will be missed by both family and friends who she always engaged cheerfully and enthusiastically. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in Rose Shepard's name to the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute Foundation, 520 Country Club Parkway, Eugene OR 97401, which is dedicated to assisting local cancer patients with financial needs outside of actual medical bills. A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday October 7, 2012 from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. at Camp Lane County Park. The event will be pot luck, with drinks, entrees and dessert furnished, please bring an appetizer or side dish.
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