Yvette DeLoatch Shepard

Yvette DeLoatch Shepard (70), passed away peacefully, Friday July 12, 2024.

She was born March 17, 1954, in Washington D.C. to Elizabeth and Russell Bacon. After graduating from Ursuline Academy in1972, she attended Fordham University in New York City. The summer following her freshman year, she transferred to George Washington University in Washington, DC and concurrently pursued professional modeling training.

As a young woman, Yvette became an accomplished international model signing with Ebony Fashion Fair which led her to be featured in fashion publications including Vogue Magazine, Essence Magazine, Jet Magazine, and The New York Times. This career afforded her the opportunity to travel across the United States and around the world - San Francisco, New York, Paris, Egypt, West Africa and Senegal. Additionally, she became a founding member of the R&B group Kleer where she toured with popular performers such as the late Rick James and the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

Later, Yvette met and married her husband of 38 years, James Shepard, who was a member of the US Navy. The young couple settled in Norfolk, Virginia where they reared two children, Remington and Dorien. Yvette enthusiastically embraced her role as a Naval spouse and mother. In her spare time, Yvette became one of the founders of the Park Place Boys Choir, in Norfolk, VA, which was modeled after the Boys Choir of Harlem.

Prior to becoming a Navy spouse, Yvette had successfully completed the General Securities Representative Exam (also known as the Series 7 exam) and worked as a registered dealer with Rothschild & Co. After moving to Norfolk, she resumed this profession and secured a positions with Kidder, Peabody & Co and Paine Webber.

In 2004, Yvette and her family moved back to her home in Washington D.C. During this time, she explored another career change, teaching. As a life-long learner, Yvette ultimately completed a master’s degree in administration and a master’s degree in education from American University. In pursuit of her new profession, she joined the faculty at The Lab School of Washington where her love and passion for educating children grew. While at The Lab School, Yvette taught high school mathematics and small business management. Also, she was the co-founder of The Lab School Women’s Group. As she rounded out her career as an educator, Yvette was appointed The Lab School’s first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In 2020, Yvette retired after 15 years of service at the Lab School of Washington and moved to Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

Throughout her life, Yvette enjoyed, gardening, interior design, residential rehabilitation, real estate, live entertainment, and classical music. She was a lover of all animals. 

She had the deepest love for her granddaughters, her children and her faith. 

Yvette was preceded in death by her mother and father, Elizabeth and Russell Bacon, She is survived by her husband James, her son Remington and his wife Ana, her daughter Dorien and her husband, Luke, her granddaughters Leyla (10), Jackie (5) and Mary-Eliza (1), her brother Russell Jr., her nephew Keith and his wife, Keya, and countless other cousins, friends and family.