| Ray Vernon Shepherd, age 65, of Sweet Home passed away Sunday after a 17-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Ray was born in Portland to James Vernon and Florence Rosanne (Welshons) Shepherd. He was raised in Brownsville, Oregon and graduated from Central Linn High School.
Ray was an accomplished industrial electrician who worked at the innovative Woodex alternative fuel plant in Brownsville before moving to Irrigon, Oregon in the mid 80’s where he was employed by a leading agribusiness, Lamb Weston, until he could no longer work due to the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease in 2000. |
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Ray served as a volunteer firefighter and EMT for many years, which included a brief tenure as captain of the Brownsville Fire Department in the early 1980’s.
His children and family will fondly remember Ray for his love of road trips on his Honda Goldwing motorcycle, a sweet tooth for lemon meringue pies, and always having tools on hand to answer the call of "Hey Dad, can you help me fix this?" Ray was a hardworking man and will be missed by many.
He is survived by his three children, Dan Shepherd of Los Angeles, CA, Patricia Schilling of Sweet Home, OR, and Kat Long of Umatilla, OR; eight grandchildren, Margaret Shepherd of Seattle WA, Colton, Tyler, and Alexia Schilling of Sweet Home, OR, and Jacob, Samantha, Brina, and Kasandra Galbraith of Umatilla, OR; brother, Gary Shepherd of Brownsville, OR; and sister, Marie Putzier of Coburg, OR.
Ray was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Robert Shepherd and James Shepherd.
A celebration of Ray’s life will be held Friday, December 11, at 3:00 in the Brownsville Christian Church fellowship hall. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Ray’s name to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research at www.michaeljfox.org. Cards for the family can be sent in care of Sweet Home Funeral Chapel, 1443 Long St., Sweet Home, OR 97386.
Sweet Home Funeral Chapel is handling services. |
