Thursday, May 19, 2011

Grandpa

Yesterday, on grandpa's 89th birthday, we celebrated his life, but he wasn't there.
I have fond memories of my grandpa, he was always thinking and always trying to get others to think.  I appreciate now that he was always pushing us to think more and never treated us kids like we were, well, kids.  For example, we traveled a lot when I was young, I will always remember grandpa Shiplet randomly asking me which way was north?  It's thinking like that that has made me a navigational genius.  Okay, maybe not, but to this day, I am always aware of which direction is north.

This is taken from the handout at his memorial service yesterday:

May 18, 1922 - May 14, 2011
Thomas Shiplet was born in Big Timber, Montana on May 18, 1922.  He went to school in Ringling, MT where he was on the track team, basketball team and football team.  He graduated Valedictorian of the class of 1940 and was awarded a scholarship to the University of Montana.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering and began a career with the Army Corp of Engineers.  During his career he worked on dam projects in South Dakota, missile projects in Wyoming and Colorado, and worked for NASA in Ohio concluding his career.

Tom was married to Gene Meyer on March 17, 1954 (in New Orleans, LA).  He was the father of four children; Gary, Ida, Irene and Kathy, the grandfather of Kim, Liz, Mindy, David, Amy, Stefanie, Kristen, Sara, Cody, Ty, Megan and Matt.  He was the great-grandfather of Kyla and Colby.


He enjoyed yearly trips to Montana to round up cattle and put up hay.  He traveled extensively for pleasure.  His greatest pleasure in life was restoring Volkswagens.  He gardened throughout his life.  He also enjoyed tent camping, fishing and hiking.


Tom lived a wonderful, long life and spent many hours in his garage helping others.  He was always thinking.  He enjoyed a good conversation and a cup of McDonald's coffee.






4 comments:

  1. Such a lovely tribute, the pictures were great.

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  2. That was really good -- thanks for writing that and recapping since I wasn't able to be there!

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  3. PS: Was that me holding the camera?

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  4. I dont know who that was but my guess would be Mindy. I'm thinking you might be the baby on the horse though, it looks like Kathy is holding you up?

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