FA (Freddie) Shepherd graduated from Holston Institute High School in north east Tennessee and then received a BS degree in chemistry from East Tennessee State University. He had a long career with Tennessee Eastman as a research chemist and received 14 patents. After his retirement in 1992 he built his own house on TVA's Cherokee Lake and did some traveling. To Russia where he was in Moscow for their 50th anniversary celebration of the end of WW II. He also traveled to Great Britain and did some short term mission trips with Crossroads Missions building houses and churches in Mexico. He is an army veteran with service in Germany in 1958, and was in the Tennessee National Guard for more than 10 years. He has been a member of Colonial Heights Christian Church for more than 40 years. He now lives in Gray, Tennessee and enjoys playing golf and writing.