Obituary for Nancy Shepard

Nancy Shepard

April 20, 1945 – December 6, 2024

Nancy Jane Shepard was born April 20, 1945, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Kermit and Edna Murdock. When she was 2 years old, her family moved to Tulsa, OK where she attended Tulsa Public Schools, graduating from Will Rogers High School in 1963. She continued her education at Oklahoma State University, obtaining her associate’s degree. It was Nancy’s intuitive style and love of fashion that led her to Chicago where she studied at the Ray Vogue College of Design, obtaining a degree in fashion merchandising. After graduation, she worked as women’s wear buyer for Carson Pirie Scott department store, Chicago, IL from 1968 to 1972.

While living in Chicago, Nancy met and married Everett Moore in 1969. The two moved back to Oklahoma in 1972, making Ponca City their home. Though this relationship wasn’t permanent, it gave Nancy the greatest gift of her life, her daughter, Ann. Nancy raised Ann and made a career as a deputy court clerk with the Kay County District Courts and later as a child support case worker for the Kay County District Attorney’s office, retiring in 2006.

Nancy met the love of her life, Gary Shepard, in 1999. Gary and Nancy’s children all agree that they were meant for one another. The couple married October 22, 2000. One of their favorite ways to make memories together was through traveling extensively. At any given time, family often questioned which state the two were currently in as they adventured across the country in their fifth wheel with their camping club. They visited 45 of the United States including Hawaii and Alaska. They also traveled internationally, making trips to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Holand, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Israel, Turkey, and more as well as taking cruises all over both the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

In addition to her love for travel, Nancy was an enthusiastic quilter. She was a member of the Pioneer Area Quilt Guild, Monday Stitch Sisters and Undercover Quilters, designing and making over 200 quilts for family, friends and charities. She was also an active member of PEO.

Above all, Nancy’s passion for life centered around the love she had for her family. It gave her such joy to prepare her home for any occasion, both formal and informal. Nothing made her happier than to have those she loved most gathered in her home enjoying time spent together. Nancy’s grandchildren meant the world to her, always sharing their accomplishments to whoever would listen and even bragging on each of them in her last days in the hospital. To know Nancy was to also know her family and see how proud she was to be a loving wife, mother and Nana.

Nancy passed peacefully on Friday, December 6, 2024 surrounded by her loving family. She is survived by her husband of 24 years, Gary Shepard, their children, Ann Jackson and husband Scott; Mark Shepard and wife Andrea; Ryan Shepard and wife Meredith all of Ponca City, and Jason Shepard and wife Whitney of Stillwater, grandsons Max Jackson and fiancée Karissa Kruse, Grant Jackson, Reed Jackson, Kyle Shepard, Eli Brosi, and Coy Shepard; granddaughters Jill Jackson, Regan Shepard, and Thea Shepard; and her brother John Murdock. She is preceded in death by her parents, Kermit and Edna Murdock, and grandson Blake Shepard.

Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home and Crematory with a celebration of life at First United Methodist Church in Ponca City, Monday, December 16, 2024, at 11:00 a.m.

Source: Trout Funeral Home