June Shepard

Our mom, June Shepard, 84, passed away resulting from Alzheimer''s Disease Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, in Atlanta, Ga. Mom grew up in Mosinee, Wis., daughter of Clara and E.A. Smith. She was a beauty, a tomboy and a brain. She earned her master''s degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin, where she met and married Stephen Knapp Atwater. She raised her four children in Galesburg, Ill. and Ashfield, Mass. With her beautiful voice, she sang to us, read out loud, took us camping and taught us to love all living things, rivers, mountains and rocks. She taught us how to kneel in a canoe like an Indian and do the J-stroke. She sewed beautifully and created lovely and uniquely personal homes. June returned to the university and earned a Ph.D. in genetics. She taught college and pursued her childhood dream, research to find a cure for cancer. She outlived two marriages, first to Stephen and then to Paul Shepard. She traveled the world and designed and built her last real home in Los Osos, which was surrounded by gardens of native plants she tended for many years. June is survived by her four Atwater kids Stephanie, Tom, Janet and Jonathan; and her four granddaughters. She loved us. Instead of flowers, a donation to World Wildlife Fund would have pleased June.