Edgar Raymond Shepard Letters, 1900-1915

Alumnus and faculty member, Edgar Raymond ("Ray") Shepard attended Oregon Agricultural College for 4 academic years (1897/98 through 1900/01) and received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1901. He attended the University of Oregon for one year (1901/02) and earned an M.S. degree from Harvard University in about 1906. He worked in Columbus, Georgia for several years and then returned to Oregon Agricultural College as an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering from 1909 until 1914, when he began working for the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C.

Ray Shepard was the first of 7 brothers and sisters to attend OAC. His brother, Claiborne ("Clay") Shepard graduated with a degree in Agriculture in 1904. He was active in the campus YMCA, served as the YMCA Secretary for 2 years after his graduation, and was instrumental in raising funds for the construction of a student building on campus. Clay Shepard died in 1906 of tuberculosis. The student building was completed in 1909 and named Shepard Hall in his memory.

The Shepard family lived on a farm near Zena, northwest of Salem, Oregon. Another brother Ralph C. Shepard, who is referred to in the letters, graduated from OAC in 1905 and returned to the Salem area to farm.