Mary Louise Shipton

A CELEBRATION OF MARY LOUISE SHIPTON’S LIFE
March 4, 1947 – August 30, 2013

This is a women very few people will ever get to meet in their lifetimes. She was the epitome of a southern born lady. She was elegant, yet subdued when she wanted to be, and a fireball when she needed to be.  She knew how to make you do her bidding, without you knowing.
Born March 4th, 1947, she became a mother to two wonderful children, John Neal Shipton and Julie Louise Thuemler, both survivors of her passing.  She is also survived by a granddaughter, Kristina Louise Thuemler.  John Neal lives in Salmon, Idaho, with his wife Kimberly. Julie Louise lives in Elko, Nevada, with her husband Patrick . Kristina is currently enlisted in the Navy, and is stationed in Seoul, South Korea.
She met and married her husband and best friend, Vern, in Boulder, Colorado, in 1966. They were married while he was home on leave at Christmas time, 1966, and it was then their 47 year journey began, and what a journey it was.
From life in the military, to retirement in the Elko area of Nevada, it was a ride she took with accomplishments both great and small. But one thing you never heard her do (except for bragging on her children and granddaughter), was brag about her accomplishments. She was very humble.
One morning when Vern came home from working all night, there was the media from Denver, Co., in their living room in Boulder, Co., to get her statements and strategy for her newly formed (the night before) “Housewives for lower food prices” group to fight against Safeway’s pricing policies, so the farmers could earn a better profit for their product in Colorado, and, housewives could spend less to feed their families.
Then a few years later, she helped with the development of senior housing in her little community of Louisville, Co. During that time, she also “talked” Sears into donating a van to the senior housing project, so the seniors could go to town. She also got Sears to donate most of the furnishings for the complex, also.
In the early 80’s, Mary Lou and her family moved to Gardnerville, Nv., where she ran the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce, before her and Vern opened their own business on the extreme north coast of California by Redwood National Park, for a few years.  This is where  God led them so they would eventually meet their future son-in-law and daughter- in-law. After a few years they got out of the business and relocated back to the Carson City area of Nevada, where Mary Lou ran the Nevada division for a California investment firm.
In 2006 her and Vern retired to the area east of Elko, Nv., where she enjoyed her gardening, wildlife, and the stars. She wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else at this point in her life.
Was her life’s work complete? No! But it was God’s time for her to come home to be with Him. She was always looking forward to being there with her mother, too.
We must remember Mary Lou as the feisty, caring, get things done lady that she was, and be happy that we were all lucky enough to have been in her path of life.

WE WILL MISS AND LOVE YOU ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS AND MINDS.