Posted on 01/13/2005 8:38:09 AM PST by Theodore R.
First GOP black to win election in Lubbock dies BY JOHN REYNOLDS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
McKinley Shephard, who made local electoral history as the first black Republican to win office in Lubbock County, has died.
He passed away Tuesday at Covenant Medical Center. He was 58.
In 1982, Shephard was elected Precinct 6 Justice of the Peace. Two years earlier and at the relatively tender age of 33, he had run unsuccessfully for the state House.
The political pioneer served 12 years as judge before springing another surprise by leaving the public sphere completely to become a priest in the African Orthodox Methodist Church.
His decision to run as a Republican ruffled many feathers in the black community but he never felt rancor toward those who attacked him, his family said Wednesday.
"He was a pioneer and knew it," said his son, Russell. "He said, 'I'm going to beat them.' "
His wife, Frances, added, "Those same people who threw stones at him, he forgave them."
Shephard didn't make the decision to affiliate with a party until he ran for office.
After examining the issues, Shephard decided he agreed more with the Republican political philosophy, his wife said.
As president of the Texas Council of Black Republicans, he soon was publicly defending President Reagan's economic policies. In a 1981 story in The Avalanche-Journal, Shephard said, "The Republican Party offers change and hope for blacks."
His daughter-in-law, MaCasha, remembers Shephard as more than a boundary-breaking politician; he was a "sweetheart who made me feel welcome when I married his son," she said.
Soon after he retired as judge in November 1994, he announced plans to start his own church. He eventually attained the position of archbishop in the African Orthodox Methodist Church, his daughter-in-law said.
Shephard's son, Russell, said that his father was finding it increasingly difficult to stand in judgment of other people.
"He felt it was God's position to judge," Shephard said.
Funeral services for Shephard will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Community Baptist Church in Abernathy; arrangements are under the direction of Griffin Mortuary.
john.reynolds@lubbockonline.com 766-8725
"The love of his life was politics," said Frances Shephard. "When that was over, he gave his life to the Lord."
Returning to religion made sense for a man who "loved to reach out to people in need," Russell Shephard said.
As a youngster, he didn't understand why his father would help out strangers when his children had needs at home.
He said he had to mature in his faith to begin to appreciate his father's selflessness.
Frances Shephard described her husband as a "complex" man to have led so many different lives.
None of those were his real priority, though, she said.
"I think he'd most like to be remembered as a loving husband and father," she said.
Funeral services for Shephard will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Community Baptist Church in Abernathy; arrangements are under the direction of Griffin Mortuary.
was absorbed by politics at a young age, but he
john.reynolds@lubbockonline.com 766-8725
MaCasha Shephard was attending Texas Tech in the early 1990s when she met her future father-in-law who was operating a video store in East Lubbock while winding down his political career.
At the time, the former preacher — he was originally called to the pulpit at the age of 15 — was contemplating rededicating his life to religion.
john.reynolds@lubbockonline.com 766-8725
May he rest in peace.
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