Emilie Faye Schepps

Emilie Schepps, a native of Dallas, died peacefully at her home on June 14, the day before her 94th birthday. She was delighted to spend her last years surrounded by her gardens and in the sunlight-filled home she had built in 1969 with her late husband, Phil Schepps. Gardening was a serious pursuit that dated from the age of eighteen when, during January of 1940, she first scattered flower seeds. Derided for having attempted to begin a garden in the midst of winter, she reveled in the beauty that ensued the following spring and summer. (Fortunately, it had been a very mild winter.) Her public gardening activity included membership in the Dallas Garden Club as a young woman and, later, chairing and supporting committees at the Dallas Arboretum. Training as a mental health therapist, she served as a volunteer counselor and became a member of the Dallas County Mental Health Mental Retardation Board. When her hearing began to fail, she went for help to the Callier Center of the University of Texas at Dallas. Her evolving admiration of their understanding of hearing disorders led Emilie to become a volunteer for hearing-impaired students at the Stonewall Jackson Elementary School. She became active on the Callier Board and succeeded at bringing in broad community support for its programs. Emilie and her younger brother Maury were born to Jack and Bertha Korpianock, and she graduate from Forest Avenue High School. She married Phil Schepps in 1946 and shared her life with him until 2003. After an active professional and civic life together in Dallas, they began devoting much time to the 18th century French farm house they bought and rebuilt from ruin beginning in 1977. In the Dordogne Valley village of St. Vincent-de-Cosse, near Sarlat, they frequently hosted visiting family and friends during the dozen years they owned the property. They had met many of the friends they entertained in France through their Dallas-based wholesale liquor business established at the end of Prohibition. The flowers and produce from their large garden supplied the kitchen and table at their home as well as their neighbors in the village. The depth of their enjoyment of society and community life in France was enriched by Emilie’s self-taught mastery of the language. During those years, she and Phil traveled extensively by car throughout Europe, a shared pastime they also extended deep into Mexico during breaks when they were stateside. Emilie is survived by two sons, Lee Schepps and Joe Schepps, and by a daughter, Shayna Schepps Selby; five grandchildren – Robin, Jeremy, Michael, Julie and Rebecca; and four great-grandchildren. She enjoyed them greatly. A private graveside service was held the day after she died on what would have been her 94th birthday at Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, 3430 Howell Street, Dallas, Texas 75204. The family requests that any memorials be sent to the Callier Center for Communication Disorders, University of Texas at Dallas, 1966 Inwood Road, Dallas TX 75235.