Eda Shepherd

Eda Loraine Dement Shepherd grew up in the bootheel of Missouri, having been born in Dunklin County on April 17, 1922, the daughter of Thomas Edward and Ora Mae Loy Dement. Somewhere along the way she met Cleatus Elmo Shepherd, whom she married on December 17, 1948. Savannah, Tennessee became their home after the opening of Hardin County General Hospital in 1952 when Cleatus became the lab supervisor there. For a while Eda volunteered at the hospital, a far cry from the bookkeeping work she had done earlier in life, but on April Fool's Day in 1957 she began working for Shackelford Funeral Directors in Savannah. She began her career there as an office secretary and ended it in that same position 30 years later in April of 1987.

Eda was an independent soul with a dry sense of humor, someone who valued the ability to come and go as she pleased, but that independence took a backseat to her desire to care for her family. She tended to her husband’s needs up until his death on February 15, 1996 and continued caring for her sister Nell until her death in 2005. Eda and Cleatus had enjoyed a good life together, taking time off to walk the fields and riverbanks of Hardin County in search of Indian arrowheads and artifacts. Over the years they managed to accumulate quite a collection, some of which were extremely valuable. Upon arriving in Savannah , they affiliated with the Savannah Church of Christ; Eda served as a Sunday school teacher there for 30 years and faithfully attended the Ladies’ Bible Class until she was no longer able to go. Her other great love was cooking and she would prepare huge meals for her family when they would come to visit, a practice that ceased when she was diagnosed as a diabetic.

Eda Dement Shepherd left us on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at the age of 92 years, 8 months, and 28 days. She leaves her two sons, James D. Shepherd of Greenfield, Tennessee and Thomas E. Shepherd of Lascassas, Tennessee, 1 grandchild, 8 step-grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, and 8 step-great-grandchildren. Other than her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her three sisters, Coriene Blankenship, Nell Dement, and Ola Fries.