California Cornerstone

Colorful stories of early California history before and after the Gold Rush, taken from the pages of The Daily Democrat of Woodland, California, where the author worked as a reporter during the early 1960's.

Bill Shepard was born October 7, 1926 in Danville, IL. He graduated from University of Illinois with a B.A. in Journalism. After his honorable discharge from the army at the end of WWII, he married his high school sweetheart, Helen Joanne North, first moving to Ft. Collins, CO, where he landed a job as a reporter at the local newspaper, then settling in Woodland, CA, where he wrote for The Daily Democrat. After several more moves around Northern California, including Quincy, Lodi and Sacramento, the two of them returned to Woodland in the 1980 s where Bill became editor of The Democrat, eventually settling in Keller, TX for his last professional position as editor of Paint Horse Journal. Bill and Joanne retired in 1992 to Eureka, CA, where they helped create Stark House Press. Bill passed away on March 29, 2012.