Lorraine Lillian Sheppard

Lorraine Lillian Sheppard ("Lorrie") passed away peacefully, of natural causes at the age of 93, on February 25, 2025 at Carleton Lodge in Ottawa. She is survived by her children, Ann Lorraine Sheppard (John Disano) and Brian James Sheppard, and was predeceased by her husband, Barry Philp Sheppard and her brother Ronald Holsgrove. She will be remembered by her sister-in-law, Judy Holsgrove, and her nephew, Timothy Holsgrove (Loretta Coker), and by her niece, Tanya McVetty, her husband James and their children, Mason and Madison.

Lorraine grew up in Kingston, Ontario and was raised by a single mother who ran a boarding house and served as cook and den mother to many Queen's University students (including Barry Sheppard). Though money was tight, Lorraine managed to put herself through university by working as a bank teller and a tour guide at Fort Henry, first obtaining a B.A. from Queen's (where she was proud of her role as editor of the Tricolor) and then a Masters of Social Work from Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University).

Her intelligence and appetite for learning were apparent from the time she was recruited to lead a team of codebreakers at "Canada's Bletchley Park" in Ottawa during the cold war, through her 20 years of active participation in the Seniors Learning in Retirement (SLR) program at Western University, to one of her last (and favorite) trips when she attended summer school at Oxford University.

She was calm and able to go with the flow, qualities which stood her in good stead during her career at the Children's Psychiatric Research Institute in London, Ontario. She was able to talk down a knife-wielding adolescent in the parking lot and, one day when the ceiling caved in and a large sink landed on her desk, simply said "it looks like the children on Crombie 2 are having another water fight".

Our mother was approachable, non-judgmental and unfailingly positive - always seeing the good in everyone and the upside of every situation. She would tell our friends to "just call me Lorraine" and before you knew it, they would spill their tales of teenage angst to an always empathetic audience.

Mom loved travel and had a real sense of adventure. She was up for anything, including an overnight camel trip in the desert (at age 82). The following year she broke her ankle on a trip to Brazil and didn't want to go home so she had the guide wrap a garbage bag around her cast to enable her to go white water rafting.

She didn't love working out but went to the gym faithfully several times a week for over 40 years so that she could enjoy the après-exercise coffee and treats in the food court with her friends. However, she DID love art and music and thought nothing of getting in her car and driving by herself or with friends (including her fellow Jesse Cook groupies) to see plays and concerts throughout southwestern Ontario.

Friends were very important to Lorraine. She maintained lifelong friendships with Marian McPherson and Norma Connor who she met in grade 3 when, as members of the junior Red Cross “executive”, they contributed to the war effort by knitting “squares” and assembling ditty bags. In addition to our family, our mother will be fondly remembered by Stewart and Olga Graham (Dad and Stew were born a day apart and our families grew up together too), Jim Cochlin (another boardinghouse alumnus) and his wife Joan (both of whom acted as surrogate parents to Ann and Brian over many years at the summer camp they ran), John and Heather Jarret and Helen Thomson (also of the Ottawa crowd), the ‘western connection’: Dad’s former Waterloo Lutheran University student Ken Sime and his wife Marilyn and their families, including Rosalind and Jack Irvine, and Mom’s London friends: Janine Smith (also connected through the university), Mom’s neighbor and travel partner Joan Clarke and her sister Gloria, the SLR gang (including Jillian Holmes, Pat Gilpin and Nancy Peters), Ted and Gail Browne and Marg Tudor Roberts, Helen and Murray Hamilton and Jane Engels. She initially met Marg, Helen, and Jane as “wives of the ‘Four Squares’", but their friendship took on a life of its own.

We are grateful to Karen and the Self-Sufficient Seniors team who were a consistent presence in her final years. Marnie, most recently, was a core member of Mom's inner circle and her visits were eagerly anticipated. 

Our family would like to thank the staff at Carleton Lodge for their kindness and patience in caring for our mother over the past 2 and a half years. Karen, Cathy, Decibel, Marnell, Giffti, Lynette, Joanne and countless other members of the nursing, PSW, activities and front desk teams cared for "Lorrie" with kindness, respect and dignity and made her feel special.

A Celebration for the Life of Lorraine Sheppard will be held on Thursday, April 10, 2025 from 2 - 4 p.m. at the Hintonburg Community Centre, 1064 Wellington St. W., Ottawa.