David Evander Shapard (Chapter 31) Aftermath

Chapter 31

Aftermath

    Directly after the accident, concerned motorists summoned the police to the scene, while the injured were transported 10 miles away to the hospital at Okemah, Oklahoma. David Conger Shapard and his wife Tenny Belle were treated for minor cuts and bruises, and Mrs. Davis was treated for a concussion, broken nose and other injuries. The body of David E. Shapard, was also transported to the hospital at Okemah, where his cause of death was determined to be due to significant head trauma.

    Upon arrival at the hospital, David’s son immediately telephoned his uncle Edwin R. Shapard, who drove 60 miles to the Okemah hospital from his home at Muskogee, Oklahoma. In tremendous grief, Edwin made the heartbreaking phone calls to his wife and children informing them of the tragedy and summoning them to Fort Smith. Then he made arrangements with Fentress Mortuary to have a coach sent to Okemah to return David’s body home. The coach arrived early Monday morning, and Edwin somberly drove all three of the injured passengers back to Fort Smith, following the hearse. The family was then set with the harrowing task of making funeral arrangements, and initially acquiesced for the service to be held at the Fentress Mortuary Chapel, however, later that evening, amended their decision to the First Methodist Church. While at Fort Smith, the Shapard family were guests at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Eugene Stevenson.

    The following day of Tuesday, December 3, 1935, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, David Evander Shapard’s funeral was conducted at the First Methodist Church of Fort Smith, with Rev. H. C. Henderson officiating. The service was largely attended by the public, as well as, by David Conger Shapard and his wife Tenny Belle; her half-brother Fred Williams who arrived from Conway; Edwin R. Shapard and his wife May, who was call home from New Jersey where she was visiting her sister; their daughter Barabara Shapard who was teaching in Muskogee; and their son John Shapard who was attending the University of Arkansas.

    After the church service, the body was removed to Forest Park Cemetery, under the direction of the Fentress Mortuary. His casket was lovingly adorned with a lush blanket of flowers, flanked with ribboned floral wreaths. Members of the Belle Point Lodge No. 20, F. & A. M., were in charge of the graveside service, giving David E. Shapard full masonic last rites and honors. His final resting place was next to the hallowed graves of his mother and father in the Shapard family plot.

    On Thursday, December 5, 1935, Tenny Belle Shapard’s half-brother Fred Williams drove she and her husband David Conger Shapard back to their home in Norman, Oklahoma. The automobile unavoidably passed the scene of the crash on the way. It was said that David was burdened with terrible guilt from the accident and rarely talked of his father’s death. Understandably, he spent a lifetime trying to reconcile what occurred that fateful December night.

    David E. Shapard’s estate would not be fully settled until April of 1938. Although his brother Edwin R. Shapard had been listed as the administrator of his estate, the probate court determined he was ineligible due to his out of state residence. Edwin R. Shapard and David Conger Shapard agreed to relinquished the duty to R. L. Secrest, who was a Fort Smith resident, Mason and long-time friend of David E. Shapard. Upon completion of the inventory, Mr. Shapard’s estate had a total of $1,676.38 in assets. His debts to S.W.B. Telephone Co., Fentress (funeral expenses), Sheridan Motor Co., Fort Smith General Tire, Crane Tire and Service Co., Boston Store Dry Goods, Electric Appliance Co., Byars Service Station, Boston Laundry, etc., totaled $1,505.04. In accordance to the last will and testament, the balance of the estate of $172.34 was to be distributed between only two heirs: Edwin R. Shapard received the amount of $171.34 and David Conger Shapard received one dollar.

    It is important to note that although the last will and testament was written at an embittered time when David E. Shapard had been painfully rejected by his son, it did not reflect the sentiment between them at the time of David’s death. Edwin R. Shapard fully realized this and not only became a surrogate father to David Conger Shapard, but expended every dollar of his brother’s inheritance, and hundreds more, helping his nephew through law school. It was what his brother would have wanted. This gesture was so endearing to David Conger Shapard that he named his second child after his uncle Edwin. Befittingly, his first child, who was born six months after the car accident, was named in honor of his father.