Top of the Class—At 101, Edgar "Worth" Shepherd is one of the two
oldest living graduates of the former Glade Valley High School.
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101 and Counting
Laurel Springs man shares life's memories
By LAURA THORNBURG
Staff
Photo courtesy of Louise Tyrrell
According to family, 101-year-old Worth Shepherd serves as a role
model to friends and family as he shares a smile and his positive
outlook on life. Residing in the Ashe County portion of Laurel
Springs, he was graduated in Alleghany County as part of the Glade
Valley School class of 1926.
Born in Ashe County in 1906 to Edwin Bryant Shepherd and Nora Melinda
Long Shepherd, he grew up on a farm with brothers George and Arch and
sister Mabel.
Asking him to recall his early days, Worth simply smiled, chuckled
and stated, "I don't know how to answer that." After a few moments,
he began to recall life on the farm and his early school years.
"I had to feed the horses and milk the cows, and I don't know what
all (there) was. Feed the chickens...I was in all that." As he
thought about what else to say, Shepherd added with a chuckle,
"There's nothing about me that's exciting."
For his first year of elementary school, young Shepherd typically
walked from his grandfather George Washington Shepherd's home on
Piney Branch to Bellview School.
At the age of six or seven, Shepherd was asked by his parents to take
corn to a location where it would be turned into corn meal. When he
was en route home, the cornmeal fell off the horse Shepherd was riding.
"It slipped off the horse and she (Sis Fender) came along and helped
me," he remembers. "There was a big rock along the road there. She
pulled the horse up to the rock so I could get back on it and lifted
the sack of meal up on the horse for me. (It was) probably just a
half bushel of corn, but I couldn't handle it."
Meanwhile, during his first year of school, Shepherd had a bout with
diphtheria.
"I can remember coming from Bellview down that hill over there in
that holler with Mary, Ellie's daughter," he said. "I remember her
brother was with us, too. We come down across by Lloyd's (Richardson)
place and down this holler across the creek. I remember having to
rest up there a while. They had to rest with me a while. I was coming
home from school. We come home early. I can't remember now how long
(I was sick).
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