THE BUTLER HERALD
Butler, GA., Tuesday, June 5, 1888 Vol. XII No. 31

In Memoriam
Mrs. Lavinie Shepherd, nee Adams, was born in Lexington district, S.C., July 30th 1810, and married Laban Shepherd in Crawford county, Ga., Jan 10th, 1830, and died in Taylor county, Ga., Feb. 4th, 1888. While some time has elapsed since this true, Christian woman, was removed from a bed of affliction to that Paradise of God where suffering is unknown, I think the virtues of such a life demand more than a passing notice. To know Aunt Vicy, was to love her, and those who knew her best loved her most. She was the natural possessor of that sweet disposition – well tempered spirit – and affectionate manners that easily won and sustained the good will of those with whom she came in contact, and then those strikingly prepossessing qualities were so beautifully interwoven and blended by the spirit of Christ, as to make her as near a perfect Christian as the writer ever knew. In the morning of her life she gave herself fully to the service of God and united herself with that branch of the Christian church known as the “Freewill Baptists,” and of which she remained a member until she as transplanted in God’s church triumphant above. Like the Psalmist of old, she loved to “dwell in the house of the Lord, and enquire in his temple.” In her life, the apostolic declaration that “the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth” was truly verified. Her life was not exempt from trouble, sorrow and affliction, having to offer a bright, intelligent, and affectionate boy at a sacrifice upon the alter of her country. (son Laban Oliver Shepherd) And another who was a model Christian was taken off by that fell destroyer consumption, and then only a few years ago, the husband of her youth, as well as old of age, was called home, and months before her death, the hand of affliction was laid heavily upon her. It was the writer’s pleasure and privilege to visit her several times during her affliction, and it was a source of comfort and encouragement, to see the submissive spirit, the resigned will, and the unmurmuring patience, manifested by this child of God. In her affliction “darkness revealed worlds of light we could never see by day.” But she has gone to reap the reward of her labor, and “thought dead, she yet speaketh.” Through a godly life, circumspect walk and hold conversation which characterized her life on earth. May her sons, daughters, and grandchildren emulate her Christian example, to meet her in heaven.

J.T. Adams, Butler, Ga.