Richard B. "Dick" Shedd, 67 of Bloomington, died Sunday April 16 at Bloomington Hospital. Born April 27, 1932 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, he was the son of Laurence E. and Dorothy M. (Allen) Shedd.

He owned and operated "The Fishin' Shedd" at Monroe Reservoir for 32 years.

A graduate of Shortridge High School in Indianapolis and Hanover College, he was a veteran of the United States Navy and the Korean conflict during which time he served as a radioman. Prior to 1968, he owned the R.B. Shedd Insurance Agency in Indianapolis and was a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America. In 1999 he became a charter member of the not-for-profit Corporation ALake Monroe Anglers, Inc.@ dedicated to the promotion of Lake Monroe as a world class fishery.

Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Barbara A. (Allen) Shedd; his brother, Kendrick Shedd of Atlanta, Georgia; one daughter, Debra Shedd Shoup of Bloomington; two sons, Richard Allen Shedd of Bloomington and Michael Gordon Shedd of Heltonville; ten grandchildren and three nieces.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father; and one brother, ALarry Boy@ in infancy.

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Loss of an Old Friend Will Yield Shedd Full of Memories

Larry Incollingo   4/23/00

We've lost an old friend out our way. Dick Shedd died a week ago at Bloomington Hospital from complications after surgery.

He really wasn't that old. He'd just been around a while and we sort of got used to him being here in the neighborhood.

Maybe that ought to be stated another way for he was here first. Thirty-two years ago is when he arrived. We wonder if he got used to having us around. If he liked us as we liked him. Us? Lots of us. Almost every one of us having come here after he got here.

He wasn't the come-to-the-house-to-visit-everyday kind of friend. Not at all. In all the years we had known him, and that's a goodly number, say about three years less than the total of his years here, he came to our house only one time. And that one time he drove his big four-by-four pickup truck off the driveway, across the front lawn, and right up to the front porch. And from his seat behind the steering wheel he shouted our name loud and clear.

Now that is friendly, no mistake about that. We have lots and lots of friends. And family. They come to visit frequently. When they are gone we have a tendency to forget they'd been here. Not so with Dick Shedd. His single visit has been the most memorable we've ever had from anyone who has come here. And it's a good bet it will remain the most memorable.

Dick was like that. Brash, bold, daring. But not only with his friendship. Consider his move out our way from Indianapolis where he and his wife, Barbara, had an insurance agency. Dick had come to Monroe County on a business trip and during that visit he discovered infant Lake Monroe. When he returned to Indianapolis he advised Barbara that they were going to make a change in their lifestyle. He brought her down to see the lake, pointed to the place where they were going to build a bait shop, and took her to see a real estate dealer.

All this time Barbara was trying to catch her breath, and when Dick asked her to write a check to the real estate agent for $400 she very nearly died at the audacity of the request. She and Dick had two small children, Ricky and Debbie, and Barbara was pregnant with another, Mike. And all the money she and Dick had was in their checking account and that was only two dollars and fifty cents. Dick was like that too. Decisive. An old cliché is applicable here, so forgive it. Here it is: The rest of that story is history. Stop by the Fishin' Shedd sometime and see for yourself.

Also unforgettable were his decisiveness and magnanimity the Sunday morning he read a story in this newspaper about the unfortunate kids at Muscatatuck. Touched deeply, he picked up the telephone and in brief but ever matchless words launched his annual pontoon boat gift to that institution for the enjoyment of the children there. That was Dick Shedd. Bold, daring, yet soft and teary when it came to kids; his own, his 10 grandchildren, and others. He had heart and love enough for all of them. Sharing that love was Lake Monroe, and he loved to fish there. How he loved to fish.

The Fishin' Shedd on Old State Road 446 at Paynetown on Lake Monroe has been out our way for as many years as Dick was here. And even though Dick won't be there anymore, it will continue to be here. The Shedd children, Ricky and Debbie and Mike, once so little, so dependent, are big people now, and they and their children will help Barbara carry on. Of course it won't be the same without Dick. When he wasn't fishing, Dick was a fixture there. The place could never be the same without him.

But there will be memories.

And what memories. He had lived his life to the fullest, with indomitable courage and grit to the very end. That's the Dick Shedd we knew. And wherever fishermen gather there'll be memories of him. Thirty-two years of fishermen from a four-state area in and out of the Fishin' Shedd! Thirty-two years of swapping tales about the big one that got away with fishermen from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky! There will be memories. There will be lots of memories.

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