Scholarship Established in Memory of Irving “Trip” Shepard ’68

“Rivers was a very special place for Trip. He spent some of the best years of his life there,” said his brother Dwight Shepard, speaking on behalf of his sister Ruth Shepard from East Dennis and his wife Lucy and children Ted and Lisa from Longmeadow and Dennis. “After his death, my family wanted to recognize what Rivers did for Trip by establishing this scholarship fund.”

Irving Shepard was a remarkable member of the Class of 1968. Blind from early childhood, he not only negotiated the ins and outs of Rivers with determination and humor, he excelled as an honor roll student. He found time to participate in a number of extracurricular activities, from drama club, to the creative writing club, to the glee club, which he presided over in his senior year. He was the valedictorian at graduation, in addition to winning the Austin A. Chute Memorial Prize for modern language, the Woodbridge History Prize, and the Hooper Lawrence Memorial Prize.

“He received many honors senior year, but the prize that means the most to me today was the Hooper Lawrence,” said Dwight. “Here is what that prize says: ‘Awarded for those qualities which contribute so much to the happiness of other people – a cheerful disposition, an unselfish nature, a kind heart.’ That’s the way my brother was until the day he died.”

“My parents didn’t want him classified as blind or have him attend a special needs school. They wanted him to have every opportunity that other students would have,” said his brother. “We grew up nearby in Wellesley Hills, and Rivers was small enough to get around. George Blackwell, David Berwind, the faculty, his classmates, all took him under their wing and watched out for him.”

Classmate Jean-Pierre Diehls sent a note to Rivers upon hearing of Irving’s death. “I remember Trip’s constant good cheer. Also, the sound of his Braille typewriter behind me as we took tests. I’d be trying to write a sentence and he would be typing pages and pages. It drove me crazy. He was exceptionally bright and totally driven once he got on a task. Since we had a very small class in 1968 we were quite open with each other in conversation. That led to truly honest conversations about Trip’s blindness. He answered willingly and I learned much from what he said.”

Irving’s innate abilities and his Rivers’ experience prepared him for Harvard University where he concentrated in sociology and graduated cum laude in 1972. He went on to earn two master’s degrees, including one in counseling psychology, from Boston University. He worked for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and volunteered for the Parental Stress Line before becoming an advocacy counselor at the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.

“He felt passionately about the rights of the disabled and devoted his life to that cause. When he worked for the Commission for the Blind, he would intercede for clients with a utility company, for instance. The client may just have misplaced the bill because he was blind,” said Dwight. “Later in life when he used a seeing eye dog, Trip would be incensed when a maitre d’ wouldn’t seat him in a restaurant. He even carried around a copy of the law protecting that right. He was very committed to helping the disabled.”

“Through this scholarship fund, we would like to help a student with special talents or needs to have the same wonderful experience he had,” said Dwight. “I believe he never would have gotten as far as he did in life without Rivers. Trip wasn’t smothered with attention there, but was really allowed to spread his wings.”