Shep's Place Family Tree

There are many stories about Edmund. It is said that when a school boy, he walked around the school yard with a wooden chip on his shoulder, daring anyone to knock it off. As an adult, when he visited his brothers, they would immediately fall to the ground wrestling. Once when he was in a River Murray town having a few drinks in the hotel, he heard someone boast that he was the best wrestler on the River. Edmund immediately approached the boaster and wrestled him to the floor. "Now who is the best wrestler on the River Murray?" he asked.

During World War I Edmund, sailed for England as a sergeant on the ship "Afric" on 9 June 1916. He was appointed Lieutenant in January 1917 and was in C Company A.I. F., 43rd Battalion, 11th Brigade, 3rd Division. On 8 April 1918 Edmund was wounded by shrapnel in his right lung. First he was in the Rouen Hospital in northern France, then transferred to London General Hospital. His mother wrote of it to Wilfred:

"this week we had news from Melbourne Base Record Office that poor old Ed has been wounded and also two cables from Mr. McCann to the Produce Office asking them to let us know, he has a shrapnel pellet through his right lung, he has had x-rays on & they tell us that it is not serious & that he is doing splendidly so we are relieved in a way that he is out of the line. It was a very near call for him."

After the war, Edmund married Doris Olive Henrietta McArdle, who was known as "Dolly." They married on 24 July 1920 and had one child, Kathleen Doris, who was born in 1923.

At some stage Edmund and Dolly divorced, and in 1956 he remarried Kathleen Una Tighe in Tusmore, South Australia.

The following article was published in The Advertiser on 1 January 1962 when Edmund was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours:

"Co-op Chief: Mr. Edmund Shepherd OBE, of Medindie Gardens, is manager of Murray River Wholesale Co-operative Ltd., one of the largest organisations of its kind in S.A. He has given outstanding service to the co-operative movement, particularly on the River Murray, for many years. Nearly every co-operative company in S.A. is now a member of the Murray River Wholesale Co-operative. Mr. Shepherd is responsible for the enormous supply programme of the packing industries associated with the co-operative movement."

Edmund died in Subiaco, Western Australia at the Home of Peace on 13 April 1972.