Our deeply beloved father, grandfather, brother and friend went to heaven January 18, 2017.   Joseph D. Sheppard, age 72 (June 12, 1944 – January 18, 2017)

Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Friday, January 27 at Adams EE Stringer Funeral Home in Buna, Texas. Visitation will be prior to service. Burial will be at Antioch Cemetery in Buna.

Joe was born in Buna, Texas on June 12, 1944 in Sheppard’s Settlement. He was a lifelong resident of Sheppard’s Settlement.

Joe graduated from Deweyville High School in 1962 and went on to attend college at Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas, on basketball scholarship and East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas on a basketball scholarship.

Joe worked for Texaco Refinery which later became Huntsman Chemical in Port Arthur, Texas for 30+ years. He was an avid hunter and was an active member of a local hunting club in Sheppard’s Settlement with family and friends.

Joe was a member of the armed services and served in the Army for a brief time during 1969.

Joe touched many lives with his wit and wisdom and has left a lasting legacy of love for his family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, William F. Sheppard, Jr.; his mother, Piney Rose Turner Sheppard; his brothers, Vernon Sheppard, Edward Sheppard, Roy Sheppard, Walter Sheppard, and Jimmy Sheppard.

Those left to cherish his memory are his daughter, Valerie Ann Sheppard Wells and husband, William Wells of Batesville, Arkansas; his sister, Bonnie Rose Hippler and brother-in-law, Emmitt of Magnolia, Texas; four grandchildren, Phoenix Sheppard, Hattie Wells, Joseph Wells, and Tristan Wells, all of Arkansas and many nephews and nieces.

Serving as Pall Bearers are William Wells, Joseph Wells, Tristan Wells, Hattie Wells, Vernon “Stanley” Sheppard and Kenny Sheppard. Honorary Pall Bearers are Emmitt Hippler, Larry Sheppard and Phoenix Sheppard.