Born in Quincy, Ill., Lorene Shepard came to New England in 1954 to wait tables at the Hanover Inn in Hanover, N.H., with a group of friends. There, Lorene met a chef with the same name as her father and namesake, Loren, and started a relationship that would last for the rest of her life. Lorene broke off an engagement with her high school sweetheart, returning the ring by mail, and married Loren the following year. Dan Shepard is one of the three children they raised in South Burlington.
Dan Shepard: The special thing for me is that I was born on her birthday. Our birthdays are on June 29, so the orange daylilies would always be out. We always had a tradition of getting our picture taken outdoors with the lilies in the background. Every year we did this, up until her 85th birthday. We weren’t able to do it last year because of Covid restrictions.
Church was very dear to her. She raised us with strong Christian backgrounds, regularly attended church, bible studies, and back when we were growing up she taught Sunday school. She really had a strong faith.
She had a special love for Christian music, and all three of her children learned music. She played piano in the living room. She’d do solos and duets with my father at church, and sang in the choir. She was always practicing, practicing, practicing. It was just a passion.
In the early ’80s, jobs brought them out into Delaware and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. One job she was really proud about was the work that she did with Jobs for Delaware Grads. It was a poverty-stricken area, a lot of high school dropouts, and [she worked] to keep them in high school and then to get them job training. Later, when she moved to Pennsylvania, she got into Lutheran Social Services, and she really loved that work as well. That’s who she is — anything to do with helping other people, and Christian-based, made her happy.
Their marriage was a beautiful, really strong marriage. Any time one of them would go into a hospital, they would be so worried about each other while they were gone.
One of the last times before Covid, I was taking my mom back from the hospital. They had been in assisted living for the last year and a half. So I was taking my mom home, and I was bringing her inside. My dad knew that she was going to be in the door anytime. He wanted to be there to meet her at the door. He’s in a walker, and she’s in a walker — they aren’t really fast at that time. And when their eyes locked in the hallway, and they finally saw each other — they’re probably about 100 feet from each other — you just see the pace of their walkers pick up, to get to each other so they could embrace.
It was important to them throughout their marriage to really have that care and love for each other. It really showed in their later years. It was wonderful to be there to witness that. It was special.
Earlier this month, Lorene and Loren both fell ill. They were admitted to the University of Vermont Medical Center on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Dan Shepard: They both went in together. One of the silver linings is, they were actually put in the same Covid room up at the hospital. My dad responded well, and my mom continued to have problems with her breathing.
For four or five days, they were together, until she was taken to the ICU to be put on a ventilator. It was pretty short of a time from when she left my father to the time she passed.
The last conversation I had with her, I was saying to her what a blessing it is to have you and Dad together in the same room. She said, “I would be so stressed out if I was alone, if Dad wasn’t able to be here with me.” And I said to her, “I know Dad would be so stressed out if he wasn’t able to be here with you too.” And she said “I know.” And that’s really the last conversation we had. We always end every conversation with “I love you.”
She’s just so incredibly loved by everybody. I’m proud to be her son. You don’t totally realize this until later in life. But as I was, in the last many years, taking closer care of them, watching their interactions and really special relationship — what people actually would say about them to me was outstanding. I wish, I hope, that people have the same thoughts of me when I get there.
Lorene Shepard died at the University of Vermont Medical Center on December 14, 2020. She was 86 years old.
—As told to Mike Dougherty
Read more remembrances of Vermonters lost to the coronavirus.
