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Apples to Engines

Portland Magazine

June 9, 2021

By Anna Lageson-Kerns ’83, ’14
Photo by Bob Kerns

AS UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND’S auto mechanic, Shaun Shepherd is responsible for maintaining every vehicle owned by the University. That’s well over 100 pieces of moving equipment—from electric carts to backhoes, high lifts, and lawn mowers. A task that size should be all-consuming, but Shepherd’s creative skills have expanded his responsibilities during his 34 years on The Bluff.

Shepherd has also built and repaired countless railings around campus; welded Howard Hall’s wrought iron window screens and exterior metalwork; reconfigured the dust collection system in the carpenter shop; and invented a bike rack that the University paid to have patented. He has also designed and hand-crafted the stands displaying every Christus Magister medal ever presented by the University, ensuring that the University’s highest honor is displayed with the utmost craftmanship and care.

Shepherd designed new tools to streamline his process building the stands. His expanding tool collection and his self-proclaimed pack-rat and junk collector tendency have made supervisors cringe over his messy workspace. But he takes satisfaction in his ability to find the perfect tool or part for every unusual request.

Among those unusual requests: renovating and building a rotator for the dome of the observatory that once sat on the west side of campus. Shepherd says, “That was entertaining. I’m interested in lots of stuff like astronomy.”

He’s also an apple expert. Yes, apples. As a member of the Home Orchard Society and pomologist for the Temperate Orchard Conservancy, he was interviewed on National Public Radio for his ability to identify varieties of apples once considered lost. “I can remember what apples look like. It’s like people’s faces. It’s really a rather crazy thing to do.”

Though not yet ready to retire, he thinks a nice legacy would be if people look at something on campus and say, “Oh, Shaun made that.”