UNI EMERITUS PROF DIES IN WAVERLY Lou A. Shepherd, 93, emeritus professor of primary education and extension consultant, died at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 22, 1977, at the Bartels Lutheran Home in Waverly. Miss Shepherd was born at Waverly July 11, 1883. She graduated from Waverly High School, attended Grinnell College, and earned the B. A. degree from UNI in 1919. She earned the M. A. degree from Columbia University in 1924 and did further graduate study at the University of Iowa and the University of California at Berkeley. She began her teaching career in the Hampton and Waterloo public schools, served from 1914-19 on the UNI Laboratory School staff, and became chairman of the primary department at Des Moines University for several years. In 1924, she joined the UNI extension staff as a consultant to public schools in primary education, serving until her retirement in 1953. Miss Shepherd served on an emeritus basis from 1953-66, taking full retirement on June 30, 1966. She said in an Alumnus interview at that time of her experiences in the rural schools that the purpose of consultative work was to improve the work of teachers in service. "A teacher in a one-room school had to be versatile. She not only had to teach eight grades in many cases, but she was part janitor, nurse, counselor, and all-around handyman, too. "Teachers were not as well prepared as they are today and they didn't have the facilities they now have, but there were advantages in the rural school. The older children looked after the younger ones. Morale was good and the younger children heard material from the upper grades since they all had classes in the same room." Miss Shepherd also taught at many UNI branch summer schools established throughout the state. "Nine or ten faculty members would go to a town in a certain section of the state," she said. "We would take along a small library and textbooks for the twelve-week session, holding classes in a high school building. We were a small, congenial group. We took the campus to the field." Miss Shepherd authored a number of publications related to primary teaching and was co-author of a text Methods of Teaching in Town and Rural Schools. She was a member of many professional associations and served the Association for Childhood Education in a number of executive positions. In 1957 she was honored with an Alumni Service Award from the UNI Alumni Association. Funeral services for Miss Shepherd will be at 2 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 24) at the Kaiser Corson Funeral Home in Waverly with burial at the Harlington Cemetery in Waverly. Public Relations News Release, February 22, 1977.
