Doctor Franklin Shepherd

Year Inducted: 2025

Doctor Franklin Shepherd was born May 1,1869. Ulysses S. Grant was president when he was born and John Kennedy had been elected the year of his death in 1960. He lived a fruitful life of 90 years. There were over 100 articles in regional newspapers about his participation in the progression of Wilkes County beginning in 1894 until his obituary. He attended school, finishing the seventh grade, the terminal grade in the 1880s. He never stopped learning and would attend any class of higher education he could attain, often driving to Raleigh to learn skills to enhance his qualifications for employment and employment of others. He was known as a man before his time, encouraging education for both women and men.
In the 1890s there was limited work within the county. With a determined drive to own land, he walked to West Virginia to work in the coal mines, sleeping in the woods to make the journey. There were no roads that led to the coal mines and the trains were not within his budget. He had ambition to buy a farm but needed money and was not deterred by hard work.
After returning to Wilkes County from the coal mines, he bought his farm and became an employer. He purchased a sawmill and took “his” men to Anson County to properly learn the trade. Not only did he employee numerous men, he and his wife, Lou Triplett Shepherd, boarded and fed them. He developed a working farm for commercial farming. His idea was to help young men make a legal living which was becoming a challenge in the mountain counties. Interestingly, he served as a practicing attorney for citizens when they needed legal assistance.
Interested in new inventions he attended the 1902 World’s Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri, gleaning the importance of indoor plumbing, modern farming techniques, installation of telephones, electricity (in 1910 less than two percent of homes were electrified- electricity came to rural NC in the 1930s) and the treat of ice cream cones. With continuing education, he served as a resource encouraging his fellow citizens to accept the change from washing oil lamps on Saturday nights to enjoying the leisure of light bulbs.
Before Wilkes County had electricity baby chicks were delivered by mail, coming late in the day- farmers were losing their brood because of the dark and coldness. Dock Shepherd went to Washington and met with Congressman Bob Doughton. The mail routes were changed and the chicks were delivered before noon. This was a major economic success for the local famers.
He was nominated by the county commissioners (1907-1922) to survey and secure the “laying of the amendments “for the non-existing highway from North Wilkesboro to Boone. The process took seven years as the road had to be surveyed, “cut” and graveled. It was the known as Boone Trail- it was the beginning of what is now 421 and Old Boone Trail.
Repeatedly appointed by the General Assembly, he served 27 years on the Wilkes County Board of Education. During his tenure, schools went from 3 to 6 to 9 months school year. Because of age and another project (next paragraph) he resigned in 1952, leaving plans for four county high schools to be developed which came to fruition in 1956.
In 1952, The Post Master General proposed closing ALL rural post offices in NC. At age 82 Mr. Shepherd organized 30 of the most influential citizens in the county. The group caravanned to Washington, DC requesting a hearing in the Capitol. Mr. Shepherd confidently represented Wilkes County and presented the argument to the committee (Congressman, Senators, and Cabinet members). To this day: Purlear, Moravian Falls, Traphill, Ferguson, Millers Creek, and others are still active.

Mr. Shepherd was of exemplary character serving Lewis Fork Baptist Church as a lifetime deacon and 30 years as Superintendent. May 2, 1909, he became a charter member of Mount Pleasant Masonic Lodge. He spoke at seminars across the county encouraging children to attend school and seek education beyond local institutions, setting an example by sending his own son to boarding school preparing for college. Sadly, his son Coy, died at the age of 18. This did not hamper Dock from providing for other young students. He personally provided numerous scholarships for men and women seeking higher education. There are records that these students (both men and women) attended NC State, Duke, UNC-G, Appalachian and Wake Forest. When the community needed a medical doctor- Dock Shepherd paid for the young man to attend medical school. He served as President of the Red Cross during World War I and II; and bought Bibles for the soldiers in Wilkes County serving in WWI. He was an initial investor and founding director of the North Wilkesboro Bank that led to Northwestern, First Union and Wells Fargo. So many accolades, so many deeds to benefit the future of Wilkes County. Doctor Franklin Shepherd was indeed a “good and faithful servant.”