STANLEY SHEPHERD (1923 – 2001) was shipped to Australia as a so-called ‘Orphan of the Empire’, a lonely 10 year-old abandoned by his mother in a work-house for ‘paupers and unmarried mothers’ in England. In a Bernado institution, he was trained in farming and gained a trade as a shop fitter. With the outbreak of War, he enlisted as wireless/air gunner in the RAAF, in the hope of finding his mother and unknown siblings. He did, but the experience left him disillusioned (although he later rebuilt the relationship with his mother). Surviving the war he returned to Australia, a chance encounter with other aircrew led him to Moral Re-Armament when he found understanding and belonging. Through MRA he returned to Europe and to the grim struggle of workers trying to survive in Germany in 1949. For five years was part of a team seeking to heal the wounds of war and class struggle. He then served two years in Japan working for peace and reconciliation. And then 13 years in India, during which he and his wife, Aileen, were senior managers of a dramatic stage show ‘Song of Asia’ invited officially to Vietnam and Laos, just prior to the collapse of Western-backed governments. Responding to a request from Japanese friends to train their youth in MRA, Stan and Aileen on their return to Australia established a three-month long ‘Effective Living Course’, one of the first such training programs worldwide.
