WESTBROOK – During his 27 years as the pastor of the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church, the Rev. Harold Shepard oversaw the merger of the Westbrook Congregational and Warren Congregational churches into one body, never losing sight of what he saw as his duty to help people.

And after retiring from his post in Westbrook in 1989, he maintained that mission. He went on to minister at the North Windham Union Church UCC and the Highland Lake Congregational Church in Westbrook before passing away on April 19 at the age of 84.

Shepard, who was known to his friends and family as “Hal,” was remembered by his son, Charles Shepard of Westbrook, as someone who was universally admired.

“He was a real laid-back, likable guy,” Charles Shepard said. “He tried to get along with everybody. People didn’t have a bad word to say about him at all.”

Shepard worked as a troubleshooter for the First National grocery store chain before attending Bangor Theological Seminary, where he was ordained in 1958. In an American Journal article dated Nov. 14, 1973, Shepard said he had a simple reason to enter the ministry.

“I had it in the back of my mind for a long time that the ministry was the one place where you could help people,” Shepard said. “I grew up in a Christian family and was always active in the church. I thought that a person should serve others whenever he could in the best way he could. The ministry is the best way, I think, to do this.”

His son said that Shepard, who ministered in Madison before coming to Westbrook in 1962, stuck with that idea his entire life.

“That was his life, to be able to help people out,” his son said. “(He was) a very compassionate person. He was always out there, greeting people, wanting to meet people.”

Charles Shepard added that his father didn’t lose his drive to help people even in retirement as evidenced by his work at other churches right up to the last week of his life, saying that Shepard was at church last Sunday.

“He still did a lot of weddings, baptisms and funerals,” Charles Shepard said. “But he did it because he enjoyed it, he really, really enjoyed doing that.”

While losing his father is certainly painful, Charles Shepard said that he had good memories of a man who would do whatever he could to come to the aid of someone who needed it.

“My biggest (memory of him) is that he would do anything to help people out, no matter the issue,” his son said. “His makeup was the type, no matter what was going on in someone’s life, if they wanted to talk with him, when they left, they felt good. He had a way of making people feel good, no matter what the situation.”

The Rev. Harold Shepard