Given Names: Clement John Marsom Surname: SHEPHERD Nickname: Clem
Gender: Male
Birth:14 April 18833223 -- Port Augusta West, South Australia, Australia Death:28 September 1956 (Age 73) -- 101 Grant Avenue, Toorak Gardens, South Australia, Australia
Note: Clem used to speak fondly of his early years in the far north of South Australia, when the family lived in Blinman. Clem with Ethel, Arthur and Rupert rode horses everywhere in the area, including going into Wilpena Pound and Arkaroola. They visited relatives on horseback: Aunt Lillie Davies at Angipena and Oraparinna, Uncle Felix Buttfield at Beltana and Aunt Fanny at Emily Farm near Blinman.
Clem was about fifteen when the Shepherds moved from the far north to Semaphore, an Adelaide seaside suburb. It was time for the older boys to get an education. The family joined the Semaphore Baptist church, which was good for active, teenage boys because it had a gymnasium in the basement. The Shepherd boys were keen gymnasts and very fit.
Clem enjoyed playing tennis, chess and fishing. He was a founding member of the United Church Tennis Association and its first secretary.
Clem met Mabel Agnes "Dot" Walker at the Semaphore Baptist church, and they married at the Walker home on 1 August 1907. Clem's brother Leo and Dot's sister Lydia witnessed the marriage.
For many years Clem was an accountant with the Harbours Board. He and Dot raised a family of six children, five boys and a girl. Sadly, the eldest child, Ronald, suffered from Bright's Disease (nephritis) and died when he was only eight years old.
Soon after Ronald's death the family moved from Wilpena Terrace, Kilkenny, to Leslie Street, Woodville. There, they attended Finsbury Baptist Church.
During World War II, Clem and Dot looked after their son Alan's wife Una and their two little boys, John and David. One summer the little tackers tested the patience of their usually placid Grandpa by breaking into pieces his precious rubber hose. It felt so nice as it snapped into little pieces. Grandma Shepherd, of course, knew that her grandchildren could do no wrong.
Clem and Dot Shepherd are remembered as loving, kind, honest and generous people who were devoted to their family. From the age of sixty Clem had a series of heart attacks. He and Dot were living with their daughter Jean Sargent and family when Clem died on 28 September 1956.
Dot survived for some years after Clem's death. For awhile she lived in a unit on Robert Street, Unley, then at Ridgehaven Nursing Home on Cross Road. Shortly before her death in February 1973, when her children were sitting with her, she asked Keith what he was going to wear to the funeral.
Name Note
Note: The name John may have been in honour of Henry's father John Shepherd or Florence's father John Buttfield, or both. Marsom, originally a surname, is a name associated with the Buttfield family since the 1700s.