AILEEN SHEPHERD (nee BROWN), 1921 – 2013
Born in a small agricultural town in South Australia, Aileen lost her father to tuberculosis at the age of 6 and her family faced years of financial struggle through the Depression. Trained as a secretary she worked in a bank till, resigning in 1947, she volunteered to staff the Moral Re-Armament office in Melbourne. From 1950 she assisted MRA conferences at Caux, Switzerland, and was present which a high level delegation of 50 Japanese came, including Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She joined a touring production of ‘The Forgotten Factor’ in Britain. At Caux in 1952, when Frank Buchman asked for volunteers to go with him to India in response to an invitation from national leaders, Aileen was one of the first on her feet. Between then and 1973, she served 13 years in India including with her Australian husband Stan Shepherd, whom she married in 1958. In 1961 they joined the ‘March Across the Nation’ led by Rajmohan Gandhi, which enlisted many young Indians and led to the establishment of the ‘Asia Plateau’ centre in Maharashtra, which the Shepherds co-hosted for many years. It was from there in 1973 that they set off with 40 young Asians in the musical ‘Song of Asia’. In the process the Shepherds were mentors and guides to numerous young people, helping to establish MRA teams in Japan, Taiwan, India, Philippines, Malaysia and the Pacific.
