SHEPHERD, Bobby Lee
Mr. Bobby Lee Shepherd, age 75, of Cartersville, passed away Monday, January 4, 2021 at his residence.
He was born July 6, 1945 in Rockmart, to the late Robert Glen Shepherd and the late Elsie Mae Hayes Shepherd. He played football for Rockmart High School and graduated in 1963. While in high school, Mr. Shepherd met his high school sweetheart, Miss Gayle Gazaway, whom he later married and was wed for 56 loving years. After high school, he was a police officer for the City of Rockmart and the Polk County Police Department and he retired from Lockheed.
To his family, Mr. Shepherd was a role model and the glue that held the family together. He loved playing golf and spending time with his grandchildren. Mr. Shepherd loved his community, was of the Baptist faith, and a member of the Rockmart Masonic Lodge #97.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his siblings, Randy Shepherd, Ann Shepherd Sosebee, Sue Shepherd Perry, and Larry Shepherd.
He was survived by his loving wife, Mrs. Gayle Gazaway Shepherd; children, Todd Shepherd and his wife Amber and Trent Shepherd and his wife Kendal; grandchildren, Maranda Shepherd, Aidan Shepherd, David Shepherd, Caleb Bohannon, Caleb Carter and Grace Hall; great-grandchildren, Caleb Carter, Jr., Kaylynn Carter, and Ruby Carter.
Funeral services were conducted Thursday January 7, 2021 at 2:00 PM from the chapel of Freeman Harris Funeral Home with Mr. Don Tanner officiating. Interment followed in Hills Creek Cemetery with Mr. Pete Hutchins officiating. The Rockmart Masonic Lodge #97 and the West Georgia Masonic Memorial Club were in charge of Masonic graveside rites.
Pallbearers were: Larry Gore, Harold McDurmon, Danny Bailey, Junior Carter, Bobby Hitchcock and Greg Caldwell.
Honorary pallbearers were members of the Masonic Order.
Freeman Harris Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements for Mr. Bobby Lee Shepherd.
SMILE BECAUSE HE LIVED
You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back, or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left. Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him, or you can be full of the love that you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember him and only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn back, or you can do what he would want: Smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
— Author Unknown
I AM NOT THERE
Do not stand by my grave and weep, for I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am diamonds that glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning hush I am the swift uplifting rush of butterflies in joyous flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die.
— Author Unknown
REMEMBER ME
Remember me in quiet days, while raindrops whisper on your pane. But in your memories have no grief, let just the joy we knew remain. Remember me when evening stars look down on you with steadfast eyes. Remember if once you wake to catch a glimpse of red sunrise. And when your thoughts do turn to me, know that I would not have you cry. But live for me and laugh for me, when you are happy, so am I. Remember an old joke we shared; remember me when spring walks by. Think once of me when you are glad, and while you live, I shall not die.
— Author Unknown
“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”
— John Lennon
“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen ... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.”
— Bradley Whitford
Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.
— John Muir
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” — Maya Angelou