[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 48 (Monday, March 23, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E374-E375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE LIFE OF MAIME ERNA STRIEBER SHEPPERD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. K. MICHAEL CONAWAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 23, 2015

  Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Maime 
Erna Strieber Shepperd. Maime passed away in January, just weeks after 
celebrating her ninety-seventh birthday.
   Bright from a young age, Maime graduated high school as class 
valedictorian at the age of fifteen and enrolled in the University of 
Texas at Austin Journalism School. It was at the University of Texas 
where she met her husband of 51 years, the late John Ben Shepperd. They 
were married shortly after her graduation.
   Maime and John raised four children together, living in both Austin 
and Odessa

[[Page E375]]

throughout their marriage. She was first-lady to John's political 
career, first as Texas Secretary of State and then as Attorney General. 
When the family moved to Odessa, Maime got involved with many cultural, 
philanthropic, and political organizations. She served on the board for 
the West Texas Rehabilitation Center and founded the Crystal Ball, an 
annual benefit event. She was also involved as a board member for the 
Midland-Odessa Symphony, and was tapped by the New York Metropolitan 
Opera to serve as their West Texas representative.
   During Lyndon Johnson's campaign for president in 1964, Maime served 
as the Chairman of the Ladies for Lyndon West Texas committee. She also 
joined Lady Bird Johnson on the whistle-stop Lady Bird Special train as 
it toured eight southern states.
   Maime's legacy also extends to the University of Texas Permian 
Basin's library. As the Odessa chairman of the book drive which founded 
the library in the early 1970s, she helped obtain over 300,000 books to 
start the collection that students at the University of Texas Permian 
Basin still use to this day.
   Maime's dedication to her many cultural and philanthropic pursuits 
were admirable, as was the stable and loving home she provided for her 
family. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Alfred and 
Honey Shepperd, her daughter and son-in-law, Suzanne and Gary McIntosh, 
nine grandchildren, and twenty great-grandchildren. Please join me in 
remembering the extraordinary life of Maime Shepperd.

                          ____________________