The Kiwanis Club honored the Honorable Jean Shepard with the Substantial Citizen award on Thursday May 26, 2011 at the Lawrence Country Club during a luncheon. The award, which has been given since 1960, honors people who have succeeded in their professions and, more importantly, have been involved in the community for a number of years.

Jean Shepherd remembers — before she went to law school in the 1970s — her philosophy when serving as an English teacher at Washington High School in Kansas City, Kan.

“If I could make a difference with one child at a time, then that whole progression would continue,” the recently retired Douglas County district judge told the Lawrence Kiwanis Club on Thursday as she accepted the club’s Substantial Citizen Award during a gathering at Lawrence Country Club.

Shepherd, who served for years as the county’s family court judge, carried that philosophy into her 27-year career on the bench, mostly handling child welfare, juvenile justice and other family-oriented cases.

After retiring in January, Douglas County’s first female judge says she still misses and tries to keep up with many children whose cases she oversaw in court, wanting to make sure they’re on the right path.

Kiwanis members lauded Shepherd for her local and statewide advocacy for families as they presented her with the award. Other than Kiwanis members, 20 past winners of the award were in attendance, including former Lawrence mayor and former co-owner of Owens Flower Shop Jim Owens, who won the award in 1969.

The club has given the award since 1960, when Ralph Pine was the first recipient. Rusty Thomas, chairwoman of the Kiwanis Substantial Citizen Committee, said Shepherd’s work epitomized the club’s mission statement dedicated to changing the world “one child and one community at a time.”

One member has seen Shepherd’s work up close. Guy Presser remembers driving Shepherd back to work from a Kiwanis meeting in the 1980s after he had recruited her to speak at the day’s meeting. She persuaded him to participate in the Citizen Review Board of Douglas County, a court-based child advocacy. He’s now the board’s longest-serving volunteer.

“Judge Shepherd has devoted her judgeship to helping kids, and that’s been her focus,” Presser said after the award presentation.

Shepherd received a plaque and had three guests surprise her: her former court administrative assistant Debbie Hart; Douglas County CASA executive director Diana Frederick; and Heather Krase-Minnick, director of the Citizen Review Board. Shepherd started both programs to help advocate for children.

“I’m honored to have my name put with all of these wonderful, fabulous people,” she said.