Ralph Allen Shepard passed away Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Coeur d’Alene. Coeur d’Alene had been his home for the last 50 years.

He was born June 3, 1949, in New Brunswick, N.J., to Stanley A. and Elisabeth Kilthau Shepard. The family moved to Moscow in 1951. Subsequent moves to Lawrence, Kan., and Hamilton, N.Y., were the venues for his grade school experiences. The family returned to Moscow in 1961. He was a 1967 graduate of Moscow High School and began seasonal work for the U.S. Forest Service that summer. He staffed Bear Wallow and Graves Point Lookouts on the Moose Creek and Slate Creek ranger districts prior to joining the U.S. Army in 1969. He served in Vietnam as a heavy supply truck driver.

Ralph moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1972 where he drove school bus and did seasonal work for the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District, Idaho Panhandle National Forests. Working for the Forest Service heightened his interest in forestry, so he attended the University of Idaho, graduated with a degree in forestry and then accepted full-time employment with the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District where he remained until his retirement in 2004.

Preceding him in death were his father and his younger brother, Douglas. Surviving him are his mother; two brothers, Robert (Candace) and Thomas; and his son, Joseph (Lindsey) Miller; granddaughter Avery; and numerous nephews and nieces.