| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
A Master Builder stepped in when little church had crisis Seven years ago, just as he was planning to build his retirement home on Dunnville Road, the congregation at the Eunice Church of God had a big problem with construction of their new church, and this Master Builder, an Adair Countian who had returned after leaving for the Korean War, worked as a fireman in Louisville, and as a builder in Indianapolis, dropped everything to oversee the completion of the beautiful little church were every year, the August Meeting extends one of Adair County's oldest traditiions Shortly after the appearance of the story about the August meeting, we received this letter at ColumbiaMagazine.com: Linda:The letter was an introduction to one remarkable Adair County, Gerald Shepherd, who is in Adair County, determined to live a quiet life here. The information his cousin Morris sent is correct. And we did locate him by phone at his home just a short distance beyond the church on the Dunnville Road. Gerald Shepherd grew up in the Millerfield area of Adair County, and attended schools there. He later attended school in Columbia, but when the Korean War broke out, he went into the U.S. Navy, and served there. (His name appears in the list of veterans at ColumbiaMagazine.com, sent by proud cousin Morris Shepherd.) After the war, he lived in Louisville and Indianapolis. For a time, he was a Louisville Fireman, but later moved to Indianapolis, where the photo Cousin Morris Shepherd mentioned was taken. "I was building a house out on Smith Valley Road," he remembers, "for a contractor to live in himself." That was south of Greenwood, IN, in Johnson County. Working on a cold-cold day made the Star He remembers that it was 1979. "We had the coldest winter that year I can remember. Nobody else much got out. And a photographer from the Indianapolis Star was driving around just looking to see if anything was happening. He took my picture and put it in the paper." When he retired to Adair County, seven years ago, Gerald Shepherd had a place with just a little two room house with an outside facilities as temporary living quarters. When the church needed help, his new house could wait He had plans to build his retirement home, but he interrupted it when he found out that Brother Joseph Payne was having difficulties completing the house. "My dad had helped build the old church there," he said. "Those are good folks, and I wanted to help." "He just stepped right in," Rev. Joseph Payne said. "He put his own house on hold. He's a master builder. He coordinated everything." So he put off the remodelling of his house to work on the church, and it's something he has never regretted. The exterior design is basically as Rev. Payne drew it. "I'm not an architect," he said, "but I knew what I wanted it to look like." The inside, however, has changes that are all Gerald Shepherd's work. "It was a pretty simple sanctuary, but I took over and made changes to the choir loft and to the interior," he says, and he's proud of that. "That made a big difference," he said, "It's a really beautiful place inside now." A car wreck changed his life He's not a member of the Church of God. He's a Methodist. He had had a life-changing experience after a car accident that changed his life, he said. "After that accident, I decided I would do more than just work for my own good." What he did was become something of a one-man Habitat for Humanity, and set out on a mission of helping others through the gift he had for construction. He remodelled houses as a gift to others. He helped build homes. In his spare time, he'd go all over the country, from Indiana and Kentucky to El Paso and all up and down the Rio Grande Valley, and up to Minnnesota carrying out this ministry. "I read in the Bible to work with your hands and help others," he said, "and that's what I had set out to do." So when he heard the plight of the Paynes' congregation, he decided to wait on finishing the house until the work on the church was complete. Others should learn discipline from Joseph Payne "These are such good people," he said. "They are a big, disciplined, hard-working group. I sometimes tell people I wish Bro. Payne could just go around the county teaching discipline. We need that today." He recalls a story from the work on the church, when a teen-ager smarted off across the church at Brother Payne. "Bro. Payne just turned to him, and sternly asked, 'What did you say?' and the kid knew he'd made a mistake. He said the boy answered, but this time, he said, 'I said, what do you want me to do, Sir' and Brother Payne said, 'I was hoping that's what you said.'" Though he's chosen a quiet life, and had rather decided he'd stay away from to much connectivity--Gerald Shepherd hasn't yet gotten on the internet, even though electronics is something he has a special talent for--he still enjoys the visiting. "We're not a hermits," he said. "I enjoy talking with people who stop by. But I still want to guard the quiet life I've got here." He makes it up to the Eunice Church of God for worship and to hear Rev. Payne's sermons and to Sharon Payne's music, and he tries to make fish fries at the Barnett's Creek United Methodist Church. Wants to preserve what makes Adair County special He's an environmentalist, who's dedicated to preserving what makes Adair County special enough to get him to move back when he retired. "I'm not against progress," he said, "but it does distress me when I see timber clear cut and farms and woodlands chopped up into tiny residential lots." He remembers how oak logs were never cut unless they were at least a foot in diameter. It will take 60 years to bring back some of the oaks being cut, he said. "And they used to use mules to bring the logs out of the woods. Back then, virtually nothing was destroyed when we harvested timber." And that brought him to a memory of the role mules had played in his life. "My grandfather was County Judge in Adair County. When they moved him from the Millerfields, the family packed up his stuff in a wagon to take to his new house in Columbia. Which is to say, his family, the Shepherds go back a long way back. They helped build the values he cherishes in life here, values he plans to spend the rest of his days protecting. Our thanks to Morris Shepherd for helping make the connection. The reference to mules by Gerald Shepherd brought to memory one of he all time favorite photos in ColumbiaMagazine.com. It was taken by Morris Shepherd. The subject was Joseph Burton's mule drawn sofa-sled This story was posted on 2007-08-18 16:18:14
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Adair County in "News of the Weird" Announcement of learning services for adults A special birthday Monday, August 20, 2007 August Meeting underway at Eunice Church of God Check in often this weekend: CM will be a busy place (ADV) Ol' Joe is barbecuing again today, Sat., Aug. 18 CU to hold registration August 21 & 22: Classes begin August 22 ACWD, Columbia Utilities call for voluntary water conservation Majority in ACHS Class of 1958 photo identified (ADV) Ol' Joe is barbecuing today, tomorrow, Aug. 17 & 18 View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
