Neca Rochelle

Shepard

Neca Rochelle (Conn) Shepard April 19, 1957 – November 7, 2026

Neca Rochelle (Conn) Shepard, 69, of Watertown, Tennessee, passed away Nov. 7, 2026, at Centennial Sarah Cannon Cancer Center in Nashville.

Neca was born April 19, 1957, in Hampton, Virginia, to Kenneth Porter Conn and Dorothy Mae Conn. Her father’s career in the U.S. Air Force took the family around the world, and over the years she called many places home, including Tachikawa, Japan, and Ramstein, Germany, as well as Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, before settling in Watertown.

Anyone who knew Neca knew her love for animals. She spent most days loving on her dogs, pigs, goats, cat, turtles, lizards, snakes, frogs and fish. Every creature, big or small, had beauty in her eyes.

Neca touched many lives, and she will be remembered for the moments she shared and the memories she made with the people she loved. She will be deeply missed, but her kindness will live on in the hearts of her family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her father, Kenneth Porter Conn.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 30 years, James David “Jimmy” Shepard; her mother, Dorothy May Conn; and her brothers, Timothy (Lori) Conn and Scott Conn.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.