William Clayton Shepard

William Clayton Shepard, 74, passed away May 20, 2021. A visitation celebrating Bill’s life will be held on Sunday, May 30, 2021 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines, IA.

Bill was born on February 24, 1947 to Betty (Hansen) and Clayton Shepard in Des Moines, IA. As a child, Bill enjoyed fishing, sledding, ice skating and walking on his tall stilts. He was an active student at North High School playing trumpet in the band for 4 years and in his senior year was the head drum major performing in the Pella Tulip Festival, the Armed Forces Parade, the Drake Relays Parade, the annual Pancake Day, and the school football and basketball games. After graduation, Bill began working for Alcan which later became American Can and then Pechiney Plastic Packaging, Inc. as a printing pressman. He retired after 40 years of dedicated service. Bill was also a member of the National Guard 186th Military Police Company.

On September 2, 1967, Bill married Theresa Lynn Bailey. He was a devoted husband and father.

In his free time, Bill was an avid outdoorsman with a strong interest in Bow & Arrow hunting and fishing. He would quite often take his sons to Yellow Banks Park to shoot bows, where his brother Dick was the park ranger. He built his own ice shanty for ice fishing in the winter, and took fishing trips to Ontario, Canada with his brothers and friends to fish for northern pike and walleye. It was fishing in the spring and black bear hunting in the fall. He enjoyed trout fishing in more recent years. Bill owned a C Scow sailboat and Prindle catamaran that he took delight in sailing at Big Creek Lake especially. He enjoyed constructing and flying large gasoline-powered radio-controlled model airplanes and was a member of the Des Moines Modelaires Club. On weekends he would race 1/2A pylon planes with friends at Des Moines Water Works Park. After retirement, Bill also liked shooting pool at the senior center especially 8 and 9 ball and enjoyed playing in tournaments.

He will be greatly missed by his wife of 53 years, Terry Shepard; his sons, Jeff and James (Beth) Shepard; grandsons, John and Cody Shepard; brothers, Dick (JoAnn), Tom, Jack (Kris) and Jim Shepard; numerous nieces and nephews; and many loving relatives and friends.

Condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources at https://programs.iowadnr.gov/donations.

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