Born on March 2, 1931 in Wilkes County, he was the son of the late Walter and Rosie Mae Phillips Shepherd. Vine was an avid fisherman, and loved to paint inside and outside his church, especially his church of East First Street Baptist Church, where he received the Father of the Year award in 1985. “Viney” so often called by his coworkers at Hickory Chair where he worked as an assemblyman for over 40 years, retiring twice and received a 31 year perfect attendance award.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Geneva S. Shepherd; a sister, Gladys and 5 brothers, Wade, Coy, Russell, Jim and Bill.
Survivors include his son, Jerry Shepherd and wife Theresa (Terry) of Newton; 2 grandchildren, Bryan Shepherd of Conover and Tera Alcala and husband Joe, 2 great children, John Alcala and Eli Alcala of Oviedo, Fla.; 3 sisters, Maggie Shore of Miller’s Creek, Mary Love of North Wilkesboro and Gracie Brown of Chapel Hill. The family would also like to recognize Vine’s Care givers, Anna Hagan and Ann Cole.
A Celebration of Life service will be held on December 30, 2019 at 2:00pm at Catawba Funeral Home with Pastor Allen Mc Coy officiating. Burial will follow the service at Catawba Memorial Park.
The family will receive friends from 1:00pm to 1:45pm prior to the service at Catawba Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Adult Life Programs Inc. at PO Box 807 Hickory, NC 28603 , 828-326-9120.
Condolences may be left at www.catawbamemorialpark.com.
The Shepherd family is under the care of Catawba Memorial Park, Funerals & Cremations.