Biography

Celebrating the life of Virgil Terrell Shipman, dead at 101 years.

Virgil T. Shipman
October 18, 1908
February 26, 2010

Virgil T. Shipman, age 101, of Alvarado, Texas, passed Friday, February 26, 2010, at North Hills Hospital in North Richland Hills, Texas.
Survivors include daughters; Sharon Brase and husband Lynn of Fort Worth, Sandra Ferguson of Alvarado; sons, Bryan Shipman and wife Joyce of Houston, Byron Shipman of Dallas and Donald Shipman of Dallas; 15 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, three great great grandchildren; brothers, Finis Lee Shipman of Alvarado and Jimmie Carrol Shipman of Cedar Hill; plus numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 74 years, Virgie Mae Shipman.
The family will receive friends at 10 AM Thursday, March 4, 2010 at the First United Methodist Church of Alvarado. Funeral services will follow at 11 AM. Interment will follow at the Bethany Cemetery.
Virgil was born October 18th 1908 outside Midlothian, Texas to Lee Lafayette Shipman and Beulah Mae Johnston Shipman. The family lived earlier on in Oklahoma and on farms south of Alvarado in the old Cotton Valley community. The family was quite large, as was usually the case in farm families, with some eleven children.
In 1931 Virgil met and married the Cotton Valley School teacher Virgie Mae Johnson.
Virgil was been totally blind for 70 years, having lost his sight in 1938at the age of 30. At the time he was a grocer in Alvarado TX. Subsequently he attended the Texas State School for the Blind to learn Braille and how to deal with his lack of vision as well as some productive skills. With that he started out by owning a couple of small stores and selling door-to-door in Waxahachie TX.
During World War II he worked at North American Aviation Plant in Grand Prairie as a parts finisher. He named a P51 Mustang “Bad Penny” for which he received a War Bond. He was quite proud of his work at this plant, it was his contribution in WWII.
After a house fire in Waxahachie he and his family, by now five children, moved to Dallas with his family in 1944. He sold door-to-door independently in the old La Reunion housing projects. Commencing in the late 1940s he worked in the factory at the Lighthouse for producing doormats and mops.
In March of 1950 Virgil was written up in a Dallas Morning News article by Warren Leslie covering a Dallas Rotary Club event at the Crystal Ballroom at the old Baker Hotel. To quote Leslie, “Right in front of the hundreds of Rotarians who packed the Ballroom, a mop was made, and you’d have thought from the way they cheered that lanky Virgil Shipman had produced an antidote for the hydrogen bomb. But it was just an ordinary rag mop.”
“Shipman is stone blind,” wrote Leslie.
In January of 1956 Virgil and his guide dog luck were depicted in a photograph and article announcing that the Lighthouse was creating jobs by opening Door-to Door Sales.
.In December of 1956 he was the subject of an article honoring him as the “Salesman of the Year” by the Dallas Sales Executive Club at their annual dinner. Earle Cabell, immediate past-president of the club made the announcement
Interestingly enough, In June of 1958, Virgil was one of seven workers at the Lighthouse for the Blind who participated in picketing the Lighthouse. A photograph of him and his dog Lucky appeared in a captioned piece citing him as a “striking” door-to-door salesman for the Lighthouse. “A fair living wage” was the issue as handwritten on his poster board sign.
This was not the first time Virgil had gotten involved in work and wage issues. Right after the end of the War and with North American Aviation having closed its doors he worked for a broom and mop making company at $18.00 per week. This was so much less than the $45.00 to $50.00 he made at North American that he started suggesting to his co-workers that maybe they should consider striking for higher wages. He was out the door in hours after having made this suggestion.
From 1951 to 1954 Virgil worked in packaging at the old Better Monkey Grip Company on Harry Hines Boulevard. As the manager of the company once stated, “Virgil has a job for life as a most productive worker on his job.”
As one might imagine these were not the easiest of times for Virgil, earning a living and raising five children of which there were two sets of twins, but he managed to buy and pay for a modest house and get all five children through school. No small accomplishments. He retired to Alvarado in 1978.
Virgil lost his dear Virgie Mae, his wife of 74 years in 2005. They were quite a team.
He was proudest of having accomplished all the above in the familial context and attributes his age of 101 to being temperate, hard working and god-fearing. He read his Braille Bible several times through. He is a most loyal Texan.
His memory was formidable and he often told stories as far back as to when he was nine years old on the farm and about the time his whole family made a trip to Lawton OK by a mule drawn wagon.

Memorials may be made to The Seeing Eye, Inc., 10 Washington Valley Rd., Morristown, NJ 07960 (973)539-4425

Visitation

Thursday March 4, 2010, 10AM at First United Methodist Church, Alvarado
Click for Map and Directions

Funeral Service

Thursday March 4, 2010, 11AM at First United Methodist Church, Alvarado
Click for Map and Directions

Burial

Thursday March 4, 2010 at Bethany Cemetery, Alvarado
Click for Map and Directions