Florence Shepherd, w7lvi
While Silent Key is considered to be exclusively a "Ham Thing", surely it is
a fitting tribute to Florence who was as close to a ham as one could get without
a call sign. Florence's service was held at the Skyway VFW in the presence of
her friends and family from among the VFW and Seattle Jaguar club. The following
paraphrase remarks that I made on behalf of the club...
In December, the Western Washington DX Club awarded Florence their very first
Lifetime Achievement Award. When the idea for the award was approved, there was
absolutely no doubt who in our organization most deserved it. It was an honor to
present it to her and, given how events have played out, we feel exceptionally
fortunate and pleased to have given it to her in person and not
posthumously.
Florence and her husband, Morrie, were rocks of the club for many years. It
is hard to imagine that the club would have grown and prospered without them to
help guide it through the trials and tribulations all groups much experience.
Now in our fiftieth year, we owe much of our longevity to the Shepherds. In the
thirteen years of my membership, Florence was constantly involved and present
wherever there was work to be done. She was the club post office, our membership
chair who knew everybody and everything about them, and always had her sleeves
rolled up on the convention committee. This was even more remarkable when you
consider that she was also doing the same for the VFW and Jaguar Club!
Her most memorable role for the WWDXC was as the "raffle lady." As each
meeting got rolling, she visited everyone with her raffle tickets and the money
can. You didn't want to be caught without a buck or two for tickets. She put the
touch on everybody. It didn't matter if you were a Big Gun, a Master of the
Airwaves, whose signal caused the clouds to tremble, you had better cough it up.
As we all get our halos and wings, Florence will be there to greet us with
tickets, so be sure you have some pocket change on you when you go.
Florence and Morrie also typified the qualities of their generation. They
built themselves up from modest beginnings. They were generous and helpful to
others, volunteering many hours to their groups. Beyond the context of our
clubs, in many ways the Shepherds were symbolic of a Seattle which is now
largely in the past.
Thank you for sharing Florence with us because we will not see her like
again. She was truly "finer than frog hair." - By Ward Silver
N0AX
Florence O. Shepherd of Mercer Island and Issaquah died at Virginia Mason
Hospital in Seattle on Feb. 8, 2004. She was 83.
Mrs. Shepherd was born on April 1, 1920, in Bremerton, the daughter of Albert
and Elma Fesler. She was raised in Bremerton and Seattle and graduated from
Broadway High School in Seattle. She married Morris F. Shepherd Sept. 18, 1954,
in Bellevue. (Morrie was a long time club member, W7LVI. Florence was not a
HAM, but used to call herself w7lvi, lower case. Ed.)
They lived in Lynnwood until 1970 when they moved to the Pine Lake Plateau.
Her husband preceded her in death on June 13, 1996. More recently, she was a
resident of Covenant Shores on Mercer Island.
Mrs. Shepherd was employed by the Mercer Island Post Office for 32 years
before her retirement in 1984.
Mrs. Shepherd was a 50-plus year member of the Skyway VFW No. 9430 Ladies
Auxiliary, a charter member of the Jaguars Drivers Club of Northwest America,
which started in 1959, and membership chairman for the Issaquah Amateur Radio
Club. - By Pete
WY7Z
