~*~
Mabry and Viola spent their honeymoon night on
a corn shuck mattress in the same room Viola's parents slept. Later, Mabry
bought his new bride a table and a small stove, called a step-stove back
in those days. They subsequently moved into a small cabin that his dad,
Mort Shepherd had built up Mills Branch, and it's there where their daughter
Lena, and sons, Robert and Charles were born. Louise, Clyde, and Lloyd
were all born in Indiana following the family's move there in 1937. Having
moved from town to town taking whatever job he could at the time, be it
coal miner, factory and saw mill laborer, railroad worker, or onion field
and crop field hand, there wasn't a lot of time for his family to get to
know their neighbors or to establish new friendships. They loved animals,
and also raised farm animals whenever they could afford to. At one point
he raised parakeets commercially, and on a visit to Indiana to visit his
mother, his daughter Louise pleaded to be allowed to take her pet parakeet
along. Reluctantly Mabry agreed. The parakeet did not accompany the family
on the return trip home. Molly, Louise's grandmother, so liked the bird
that before their visit had ended she had talked Louise out of her favorite
pet. But Louise's love for her grandmother, and upbringing to be a giving
soul, allowed her to part company that day with her most cherished possession.
Mabry found his calling when he hired on as a custodial worker in a local
Michigan high school, where he was liked by all, and where he was greeted
and known by his nickname, "Shep". Some say his true calling was gardening,
and that he and Viola shared "green thumbs" like few others. It must've
ran in the genes however, 'Greenjeans' if you will, or in this case the
man known for his outstanding work in agronomy, his half-uncle, "Green
Thumb Bob Shepherd", the youngest son of "Flitterfoot"...it's obvious they
had that and much, much more in common. Bob also refered to himself as
"Flitterfoot", but folks in Kentucky, and particularly the newspapermen
who would write about him, almost always refered to him as "Green Thumb".
Bob visited Mabry and his family in the summer of '59 when he was taking
more agriculture classes at Michigan State University, and the families
shared more than their common bond, they also shared in each others lives
and visited one another over the years. In later years and with the passing
of his beloved wife, Viola, Mabry's companions became his three-wheeled
bike, his pet doberman, Toby, and his bible. And he used to shoot
a mean game of pool in his day; must've been all of that practice over
at his son-in-law Ben's place, but don't misunderstand, that was just good
clean fun...the serious stuff came when he sat down to read the bible that
was forever by his side.
R.I.P.
1910 - 1998
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