Marianne Shepard

Marianne Shepard a 65-year resident of Glen Ellen was 82; she was living in Sonoma at the time of her death. She had moved to Golden Living Center in June of 2009 following a stroke. Waking Thursday morning, she met the day with her trademark quirkiness and sense of humor, visited with friends and family and then she died peacefully. Mare was born and grew up in Ross, with her twin sister, Susan, the babies of the Rattray family; mother, Marian, and father, William, older sister and brother Jane and Bill. She attended Ross Grammar School then Katherine Branson School; spending the summers of her high school years working at the Jack London Ranch in Glen Ellen and taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy one of her first loves - riding horses. Studies at UC Davis took her away from family and friends for a year, then on October 25, 1947, she and Jack Shepard married and she moved to the Ranch with him, where they lived, worked raising prize Jersey cows and had their family. In 1969, Mare started as a rural mail carrier for the Glen Ellen post office; she retired in 1994. In 1973, she moved off of the Ranch but stayed in Glen Ellen, acquiring a sweet cottage which would be her home until her move to Sonoma. It had a huge yard so that she could indulge her passion for gardening. The other lifelong pursuit Marianne loved was birding; she was a bird watcher all of her life, bursting with enthusiasm and ready to go any time the call went out that a special bird was close. In the early '60s, she became an official bird-bander, Number 8788, an authority on western birds and valued presence and contributor in establishing the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. When she was at home her numerous cats were a great comfort to her, they were always at her feet, on her lap, at her side; she loved her cats. Never one to let the grass grow under her feet, Mare enjoyed a number of hobbies and pastimes over the years. She backpacked the Sierra, did some rock climbing, became an accomplished photographer, traveled to Mexico, Costa Rica and the American Southwest, created beautiful hand-decorated and painted gourds and regularly attended craft fairs and the local farmers market to offer them for sale. She never stopped being interested in life and interesting to all of us that were privileged to have her in our lives. Marianne was predeceased by her husband, Jack London Shepard on November 17, 1965 and her daughter Anne Paige Shepard on August 24, 1985; she is survived by her son, Greig Shepard, daughter-in-law, Constance Sharpe; and many cherished nieces and nephews. A memorial for Marianne will be held at the Jack London Lodge, 13740 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen, on Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. Marianne contributed to may worthwhile causes; her request was that donations in lieu of flowers be made to PRBO, 3820 Cypress Drive, Ste. 11, Petaluma, CA 94954 or The Nature Conservancy, 201 Mission St., 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.