News

Widow given five days to create a trust that might buy late husband’s cemetery

Melody Shepherd sits between her attorneys, Stephen P. Lindsay and Mary Ann Hollocker, during a hearing on Thursday at the Henderson County Courthouse on Grove Street.

By Amy McCraw, Published: June 26, 2025

A Superior Court Judge overseeing the receivership of Shepherd Memorial Park on Thursday gave the widow of longtime Hendersonville funeral director Tom Shepherd five days to create a trust that might allow her to purchase the cemetery her late husband owned.

But even if Melody Shepherd successfully creates the trust, her bid of $340,000 for the cemetery could be upset by Jimmy Altmeyer, of Altmeyer Funeral Homes. Altmeyer could upset Shepherd’s bid during a 10-day period where the sale is held open and subject to upset bids.
A trust for the cemetery might also make legal history in the state, if it is created.
“I have found it very difficult to create a trust,” Superior Court Judge Marvin P. Pope said during a hearing held to approve the auction of Shepherd Memorial Park. “There’s never been a trust like this in the state of North Carolina history.”
Pope’s comments came during a hearing held after Altmeyer bid $250,000 for the cemetery. Altmeyer was initially the only bidder for the cemetery during an auction held Thursday morning at the foot of the steps inside Henderson County’s Courthouse on Grove Street.
Melody Shepherd sat silently on a bench under the steps as the brief auction took place.
As Altmeyer, court officials and others interested in the fate of the cemetery moved to a nearby room where Pope considered approving Altmeyer’s bid, Shepherd said she felt her life ended when her husband, Tom, died in 2021.
“I’ve been living in hell since,” she said. “I’ve been made out to be a monster, and I am not.”
Once the hearing began, Pope denied a motion by Shepherd’s attorney, Stephen P. Lindsay, to be withdrawn as her counsel. Pope also denied Shepherd’s request to represent herself.
Pope told those gathered for the hearing that Altmeyer’s bid of $250,000 did not come close to the appraised value of the property.
When he ordered the sale at public auction in December, Judge Pope set a minimum bid of $1.22 million based on a court-ordered appraisal of the memorial park that set a fair-market value between $900,000 and $1.4 million.
An initial attempt at a public sale on March 5 failed to produce a single bid. Unlike the failed sale, the new auction on Thursday opened with no minimum bid. But the winning bid was subject to Pope’s approval.
After hearing from officials about the costs associated with operating the cemetery while it has been in receivership and costs associated with the auction, Pope offered to sell the cemetery for $331,397.50.
Lindsay told the judge Shepherd offered to pay that amount and proposed that the property be held in a trust by a neutral party.
Altmeyer also offered to pay the amount the judge set before Lindsay said Shepherd could pay $340,000 for the cemetery.
Altmeyer then questioned whether Shepherd was qualified to bid.
Pope’s order required that any successful bidder for the grounds and property must be a licensed cemetery operator under North Carolina law.
Pope said Shepherd was qualified to bid because she and her attorneys were planning to set up a trust that would involve someone licensed to operate a cemetery.
Sharon Alexander, the attorney for the Cemetery Commission, said her clients were interested in protecting the public. She asked Pope for clarification on his ruling.
Pope said the cemetery sale will be held open for five days to form a trust that would create a licensed entity to operate the cemetery.
“I need a trust in five days. I will determine if the trust is a licensed entity,” he said.
In an interview after the hearing, Pope said he had tried to research trusts covering cemeteries and had asked for assistance from other legal experts and found no such trust in North Carolina.
If a trust is created, Altmeyer said after the hearing that he expects to file a bid to upset Shepherd’s offer.
“Hopefully, we will be the successful bidder,” he said.
Altmeyer said he was also “surprised a trust that doesn’t exist is able to bid. But I respect the judge’s opinion and order.”
Thursday was the second attempt at the sale of the cemetery grounds and assets and came as the lawsuit by the state Cemetery Commission reaches four years old with no lasting resolution. In separate enforcement actions, the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service shut down the century-old Thos. Shepherd & Son funeral home and the Cemetery Commission forced the cemetery into receivership after numerous complaints from clients.
Business operations at the funeral home and cemetery suffered as Tom Shepherd’s health deteriorated starting around 2020, the N.C. Board of Funeral Service found. In December 2021, the board issued an order that shut down the funeral home, revoked the funeral director license of Thomas R. Shepherd and the crematory manager license of Melody Shepherd and referred investigators’ findings to law enforcement to determine “whether criminal charges are warranted.” (No criminal charges have been filed.) Tom Shepherd died on Dec. 31, 2021, of “major depression,” his physician said in his death certificate.
Altmeyer was seen ahead of Thursday’s auction as most likely to purchase the cemetery. Altmeyer Funeral Homes owns the Forest Lawn and Shuler funeral businesses here and was the winning bidder, at $2,025,000, when the Shepherd funeral home was sold at auction in 2022. Altmeyer now operates the downtown business as Church Street Funeral & Cremation.