HAPPY BIRTHDAY. On your birthday I remembered 40 years ago the cold snowing day when you were born.You brought so many many wonderful memories to so many people and will never be forgotten.  I look at your pictures everyday and have so many wonderful memories of you and your adventures. Love you dad

Happy Birthday Marnie. It is hard to believe another year has gone by.

Love you Dad

Birthday Brant! Happy Birthday Marnie! We love you and miss you. 

- Your Alaska Friends

Miss you MLS!

"May God bless and keep you always

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young"

Cheers my friend, we all miss you very much. djr

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARNIE

I CAN'T BELIEVE ANOTHER YEAR HAS PAST AND IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY AGAIN. YOU WOULD BE 37 TODAY WHICH IS HARD TO BELIEVE. I MISS YOU SO MUCH AND AS I LOOK AT YOUR PICTURES EVERYDAY, I AM REMINDED OF HOW MUCH HAPPINESS YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO SO MANY PEOPLE. I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY AND MISS YOU SO MUCH. LOVE DAD 

Adventures

Miss you Marnie. Can't help to wonder what you'd be up to if you were here. Some big adventure I'm sure. Glad I got to share some with you. I'll hold on to those memories always.
djr

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARNIE

I remember when you were born on that cold snowy Sunday afternoon in Michigan. You have brought so much happiness to so many peoples lives across North America and are deeply missed every day and even more on your birthday. You are loved by so many, in so many peoples hearts and will never be forgotten. I think of you everyday and look at your pictures throughout the house seeing your beautiful smile. I love you and am thankful for the wonderful memories. Love Dad       

She made everything fun

Miss you Shep!!

Ellie

Ballad For A Friend

"Where we go up in that North Country

Lakes and streams and mines so free

I had no better friend than she"

Happy Birthday Marnie

We celebrate you today and everyday.

Alaska friends

Happy Birthday Marnie

It is so hard to believe another birthday is here. Marnie, I think about you every day, see your face, your smile and hear your laugh. I miss you so much and can't believe it has been almost 6 years since I last spoke to you. Miss and love you Dad

We miss and love you Marnie!

HAPPY BRITHDAY MARNIE

I think of you everyday and miss you so much. Your are always in my thoughts.

I love you Dad

Jonnie Shepherd

I am very sorry to report that Marnie's mom passed away on Monday morning after a 10 month battle with pancreatic cancer. Please keep Marnie's family in your thoughts and prayers.
Ellie
Jonnie Lee Shepherd's obituary

Time goes by...

Here's to a great friend and great field biologist who is greatly missed!

Hearts still soar when they remember you

With the Olympics going on and so many strong women flying down snowy slopes, grinning huge, it's impossible not to think of Marnie.

WE MISS YOU EVERYDAY

Your memory is alive in our hearts and mind. We see you all around us everyday. We hear your voice in our hearts and see your beautiful smile in our minds. We love you always, Mom and Dad

Hug a Mutt

If you miss Marnie, hug a Mexican mutt (If you can't find one any silly ole dog will do), have a good cry, remember all the wonderful times you spent with her, and smile big .

We miss you Marnie. Trish, Jeff and Panga

Birthday

Happy Birthday Marnie! From your friends in Alaska. We miss you!

Missing you

I miss her so much today, yesterday, the day before, well everyday.  Thinking about going to Mexico in the fall.  Anyone interested?

-Liz

Keeping you close...

As time goes by, we're keeping your memory close to our hearts.
You still make us smile.

This weekend we celebrate you, Shepherd!

Your name has come up in conversation at least twice in the past week, and that was before realizing that it was your birthday.
Cheers to your cheer.
Love to your memory.
We think of you still.
We always will.
(Fairbanks friends)

JANUARY 30, 1977

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARNIE

WE THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH.


LOVE MOM & DAD

Even after 3 years

Today I got an email from Rizz asking me which program I used to create Marnie's Photostories. I decided that I'd go to those Photostories just to remember what I had done.
I tried to watch the first one and couldn't. Even after almost 3 years, I still well up trying to watch those photos float by of her beautiful life. Marnie will always be remembered, of that I am convinced. ~Naomi

politics

All the talk of the coming presidential election has brought me back memories from 2004. During that election year, Marnie declared that should was going to make a concerted effort to follow the race and to stay more informed about current events; I think all the time she was spending at in-the-middle-of-nowhere field camps away from the news was making her feel a bit uninformed. But Marnie was serious about it, listening to NPR, reading the paper; she even went to the length of hosting 2 presidential debate parties at her house (she was renting a place in Spenard at the time with a great backyard, complete with a horseshoe throwing setup). For those parties she invited a bunch of friends over to watch the debate on television and made us all dinner (pasta the first time, and even more delicious beef stroganoff the next time).

That same fall, she and I took a trip to Delta Junction to visit Ellie and Jeff. On the drive up, we were stopped by some road construction along the Glenn Highway near the Matanuska Glacier. The car stopped in front of us was a Subaru station wagon with a “W04” sticker on the back windshield. Of course, Marnie and I, not being big fans of George W., had to snicker that the “W” was for “Wacko,” and wondered how the people who put that sticker on the car could not realize this fact. The road worker with the stop sign said it was going to be awhile, so we shut off the engine and let the dogs (2 at the time, Palomo and Kashu) out to run around. It was a beautiful fall evening just before dark, the trees all had yellow leaves and the glacier glowed in the distance. We still had at least four more hours of driving ahead of us to get to Delta Junction.

When the road was finally clear, we and the other cars started our engines to go, but not the “W04” Subaru in front of us. The cars behind us pulled out and passed around, but Marnie waited. When it became clear that their car was not going to start, we walked over and asked if they needed some help. In the car was a women and her elderly mother, and they had managed to keep their sense of humor despite their automobile frustrations; they were real nice folks. Their engine would crank, but not turn-over, so it was clear the problem was bigger than a dead battery. Marnie let them use her cell phone to call for help. We then stuck around for another half hour until her son arrived in a pickup truck full of tools. We said good-bye and headed up the road. Marnie joked that they were real nice people for George Bush supporters.

At the time that encounter did not strike me, of course Marnie did not simply pull around that car even though we still had a long trip ahead of us and maybe their car problem was just karma coming to call for their politics. But that’s not the way she was, of course Marnie stopped. Now though, since I have turn to memories to recall how Marnie was, she impresses me even more, and I miss her. (Dan Rizzolo)

Time Moves On, But Her Memory Will Always Keep

"Time passes slowly up here in the daylight,
We stare straight ahead and try so hard to stay right,
Like the red rose of summer that blooms in the day,
Time passes slowly and fades away."
-Bob Dylan

Honor Marnie's Memory

Please also visit:
Mental Health Support

Old data sheets

I was going through some old (2002) data sheets from Izembek NWR today, many of which had been filled out by Marnie while she sat in a blind overlooking Izembek Lagoon. Most people only include the required data such forms. Marnie took the time to include her observations on the weather, bears, brant, eiders, and nature in general, often in Spanish, and always in way that showed her enthusiasm and love for the place. Not often old data sheets make me smile. This photo isn’t from Izembek but from Southeast Alaska where Marnie worked on Vancouver Canada geese (Jerry)