Norma Dean Rhodes Sheppard, a longtime resident of Huntsville, passed away on September 5, 2022, at the age of 90. Mrs. Sheppard was born in Huron, Tennessee on June 8, 1932, and grew up in Middle Fork, Tennessee. She graduated from Lexington High School in 1950 and attended Freed-Hardeman College in Henderson, Tennessee. She married Robert Grady Sheppard in 1955, became the mother of twin boys David and Richard, and moved with her family to Huntsville in 1963 where Bob began a career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She and Bob later moved with their boys to Picayune, Mississippi, and they returned to Huntsville in 1970. Mrs. Sheppard served as a secretary at Stone Middle School and retired from Huntsville City Schools in 1996.
Mrs. Sheppard was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Robert Grady Sheppard; her mother, Zula Adeline Rhodes; and her father, Floyd Alfonzo Rhodes. Survivors include her sons, John David and his wife, Maribeth, and James Richard and his wife, Stephanie; her sister, Patsy Rhodes Scalia and her husband, August; her grandchildren, Richard Anderson Sheppard, Joel David Sheppard, Claire Elizabeth Sheppard, Sarah Grace Sheppard Smith and her husband, Conner, Sierra Suzanne Sheppard and son, Riley; and Robert Alden Sheppard; and her nephews, Timothy August Scalia, Christopher Andrew Scalia, Michael Anthony Scalia, William Franklin Sheppard, and James Scott Sheppard.
Visitation will be held at Laughlin Service Funeral Home Thursday, September 8, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm with a graveside service at Maple Hill Cemetery immediately afterwards at 1:00 p.m.
