At Sheppard's funeral service, a small booklet was produced to summarise his life & achievements. This is reproduced below...



Morris W. "Doc" Sheppard, age 88, of Madison Lake, died Tuesday, August 31, 2004 at the St. Cloud Veterans Home surrounded by his family.

Morris was born June 25, 1916 in Garden City to Samuel and Emma (Banker) Sheppard and later attended Mankato High School.

He served in the United States Army during World War II as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. He entered the service in 1941 and in 1943 joined the paratroopers and went overseas with the 82nd Airborne Division of the 505th Infantry. He served in the North African Campaign and from there, flew in the lead plane and parachuted into Sicily. He ultimately had three combat jumps, one each in Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. He was wounded on the Sicily jump and wounded and captured on the Normandy jump along with others. He was held in various locations including a monastery, proving to be an evasive prisoner he escaped five times, sometimes taking others with him. "The SS caught up with us one time," he said. "They weren't a very nice bunch." On his fifth and final escape, Sheppard and a buddy made their way to Poland, where they were taken in my some locals. "We were lucky they didn't turn us in for the reward," he noted.

In the mid 1940's, Doc took over the family business, "Point Pleasant Resort" in Madison Lake. On October 6, 1948, he married Florence Schaub at All Saints Catholic Church in Madison Lake. Doc was a former mayor of Madison Lake, a member of All Saints Catholic Church, American Legion Post 269 Madison Lake, and VFW Post 950 Mankato. He helped start the Madison Lake Historical Society and enjoyed politics and reading history.

Doc will be remembered by many different people in many different ways: A war hero, an active Democrat, an uncle, a grandfather, and a father. To most of his nieces and nephews he will always be remembered as "The Candy Man" - the uncle with the bottomless bag of candy on top of the fridge.

Survivors include his wife, Florence "Flossie" Sheppard of Madison Lake; nine children. Linn (Sheryl) of Minneapolis, Jim (Marie) of Madison Lake, Kay (Don) Sweazey of Seattle, WA, Paula (Clay) Sammis of New Hampshire, Shari (Tom) Baumann of Eden Prairie, Randy (Carol) of Monticello, Dan (Jodi) of Madison Lake, Jennifer Meyers of Cashmere, WA, Marsha (lan Pitz) of Madison, WI; 19 grandchildren: Jenny Mae, Joseph, Nicole, Jamie, Katie, Jesse, Melissa, Tara, Shaun, Rachel, Sasha, Chelsea, Jason, Nichol, Trevan, Logan, Shannan, Oscar, and Alban; and a great-granddaughter, McKenna. He was preceded in death by his parents; a daughter, Mary; a grandson, Frank; two brothers and three sisters.