On Friday evening family and friends gathered to celebrate the 80th birthday of a Mansfield woman who has changed the lives of many generations of children.
Inez Shepard, the owner and operator of Happy Time Childcare, 276 Harker Street, Mansfield, was honored and surprised by the celebration, which was held at the Area Agency on Aging at Hawkins corner on Lexington-Springmill Road and Park Avenue East.
Shepard said she started Happy Time Childcare 48 years ago out of a love for children. She was also the pioneer of Culliver Reading Center (CRC), which began in 1992. CRC is named after former Mansfield mayor Donald Culliver. The after-school program served and is still serving primarily African-American youth who live on the city’s north end of town. CRC provides a safe place for children from 3-6 p.m. and helps them with their homework.
Guests were treated to hors d’oeuvres, dinner and birthday cake. Pictures from Shepard’s life and from the daycare played on big screen TVs as people were encouraged to give remarks on Shepard’s contribution to their lives and/or the community.
Demone Shoulders said he met Shepard as a little boy when she lived across the street from him. After he grew up and moved back to Mansfield, Shoulders said he was looking for something to do with his time when he stopped in to see Shepard at the daycare.
“One thing you know, that if you want to find some work, Mrs. Shepard will find some work for you,” Shoulders said as people in the crowd chuckled. “Every chance she got, she would say, ‘Mr. Shoulders do this.’ She was constantly pushing me.”
Shoulders said that Shepard’s “pushing” eventually catapulted him to a position as the board president of CRC.
“One thing I want to say about Mrs. Shepard, is that she cares for everybody,” he said. “I feel like she has been a mother to all of us and we all have been blessed by her.”
Pastor William Jordan, a family friend, said he sent his children to Shepard’s daycare.
“Mrs. Shepard has really played a role in the city of Mansfield beyond description,” he said.
Jordan said it felt good leaving his children in the caring and capable hands of Shepard. “Because of her great love that came from Happy Time Childcare, it really touched your heart and gave you peace as you went to work knowing that your child was in good hands. And what really gave you peace of mind, is when you went to get your child and they didn’t want to leave!”
Jordan also joked that Shepard must have had “magical crackers.”
“They always wanted to go back in to get another handful of crackers,” he said.
Retired Mansfield Municipal Judge Jeff Payton also stood up to make a comment about Shepard. He started by saying, “We don’t really know how blessed we are in Mansfield. Sometimes we can take things for granted. If we lived in a larger city, daycare isn’t close to what we have, even now, at Happy Time Childcare.”
Payton said at least three generations of children have been raised at the childcare. He also quipped that he did not have to discipline his children thanks to, “Mr. Butter” – a plastic spoon used to get a child’s “attention.”
“I never met Mr. Butter…but I heard about him for a long, long time,” the judge joked. “This was at a time that Children Services was probably on everyone else’s back, but Mr. Butter got a break.”
As people in the crowd nodded and laughed in agreement, Payton said, “The fact that so many people can relate is a testament to the hard work of Mr. and Mrs. Shepard.”
Shepard’s son, Charles, said he was grateful, proud and blessed by his mother and his father, Kenneth.
“I feel blessed to be an honored son, because I know I’m not deserving,” he said. “There was a time that I was an embarrassment, but I do know today that mom didn’t give up.”
When asked if she wanted to say anything, Shepard said she never realized she had so many friends.
“I love and I am still enjoying this 80 years birthday,” she said. “I really did not have the daycare and preschool and Culliver Reading Center by myself. It was the community that made the daycare and Culliver Reading Center work.”
Gloria Taylor said she is a product of Happy Time Childcare Center.
“Mrs. Shepard has been a wonderful person in my life,” she said. “Mansfield has been so blessed to have Happy Time Childcare.”
The Shepard’s children: Kenneth, Charles, Sharon and Sheila, were also in attendance. The party was given by Debbie Holt and Theresa Williams of the Cookies and Milk Project.
“One thing I want to say about Mrs. Shepard, is that she cares for everybody,” said Demone Shoulders. “I feel like she has been a mother to all of us and we all have been blessed by her.”
