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Shepperson Memorial

Memorial Service and the Interment of the Ashes of George Shepperson.
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Saturday 4 September 2021

Janet Acheson (née Shepperson)

Catriona (Cat) & Janet Acheson, Joyce Shepperson and Dr. Nick Acheson
.
After eighteen months of worry and uncertainty due to Covid 19, it finally became
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possible to hold a Memorial Service on Saturday 4 September 2021.
The Reverend Imogen Falvey welcomed an intimate gathering of some twenty-five
people (socially distanced) to Holy Trinity Church, Orton Longueville, Peterborough, where
my father and mother had often worshipped.
A heartfelt tribute, based on his obituary which appeared in Scottish edition of The
Times, was given by Peter Freshwater, former Deputy Librarian of the University of
Edinburgh Library, who was also a former student.
The scripture reading, which my father had specifically requested, was from the First
Letter to the Corinthians, chapter thirteen and was read by his granddaughter, Cat Acheson.
The Funeral Song from Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline’, was read by myself - his daughter Janet
Shepperson Acheson - and ‘Love bade me welcome’ by George Herbert was read by his son-
in-law Nick Acheson, which testified to my father’s love of literature. Robert Burns’ ‘A
man’s a man for a’ that’, read by Douglas Rennie, also a former student, was a fitting
reminder of my father’s forty-year engagement with the literature and culture of Scotland.
David Stuart-Mogg, Hon. Editor of The Society of Malaŵi Journal, spoke of his long
friendship with my father George during the nearly thirty years that he lived in Peterborough.
He painted a vivid portrait of my father’s illustrious career and of his later years, which was
greatly appreciated by all present.
After the interment of my father’s ashes in the peaceful country churchyard, the guests,
some of whom had come from as far afield as Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Norwich and
Salisbury, were able to mingle in the church to enjoy refreshments and share reminiscences
of the man whose life had touched the lives of so very many during his ninety-eight years on
this earth.

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