- Date Of Birth: April 14, 1946
- Date Of Death: November 21, 2022
- State: Florida
Miami, Florida – SHEPHERD, PHILIP LYNN and BEATRIZ RAMIREZ (both 76), both passed away peacefully-exactly four weeks apart-surrounded by their children holding their hands. Phil passed away on November 21, 2022, in Annapolis, MD. Betty passed away on December 19, 2022, in the Miami, FL area, where they lived together their last 40 years.
The pair were a team for over 51 years-deeply in love and supportive of each other-in every sense of the word. In their final days, it was clear they simply couldn’t live without the other. Their love story is pure and inspiring to family and friends.
Phil was a professor in the College of Business at Florida International University (FIU) for 39 years, impacting thousands of students’ lives and careers.
Betty-known as “Gord” to many-was the rock of the Shepherd family, raising three accomplished children. As she said, “raising you was my career.” Before becoming a full-time mom, Betty worked as a Registered Nurse and Respiratory Therapist at Vanderbilt Hospital and in Colombia, where she was born and raised.
Betty met Phil in Peru in 1971 when he was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was a “love at first sight” story, they decided to get married in a week, and were married in six months. The two traveled all over Latin America together in their late 20’s. On that multi-year trip, they drove all the way from Nashville, TN to the southern tip of South America (in Argentina) back. At one point, they even got shot at by Colombian drug traffickers.
Above all else, Phil and Betty were truly special people. They lived life to its fullest, and they leave behind a legion of people who were deeply impacted by their spirit of kindness, generosity, and humor.
Phil and Betty are survived by their three children, Katherine (44), Carla (40), Steven (36); two sons-in-law, Ryan Bender (46) and Brad Devereaux (38); daughter-in-law, Rebecca Dawes (33); three grandchildren, Alessandra (9), Skye (2), and Sloane (due Jan. 2023); Phil’s sister, Margaret (Bob) Schmidt (74); Betty’s sister, Clara Ines Ramirez (74); and countless friends and family all over the world.
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