Shipley - Step side

I interviewed my step mom and got some information about my step family.

My step mom is the 8th on the top from the left

Cathy Brooks, maiden name Shipley, was born on October 6, 1952. Her parents were Jack and Jo Shipley. Growing up she said that she had a friend say that her family was like the family on Leave it to Beaver... she would call her parents June and whoever the mans name was. She said that they had a very normal and fun childhood and that they didn't take very many vacations but occasionally they would take a family vacation. Her mother did not work, would stay at home and cook all the meals. They would have dinner at the table every night. A special treat would be going to the cafeteria for dinner. One of her dads favorite sayings was "get what you want, but eat what you get".

Jack Shipley

Jack Shipley, or "POP" as us grandkids would call him was a wonderful guy, said my step mom. He wasn't strict but he was firm and had rules to follow and if the rules were not followed then they would be punished for them.  He was a hard worker all his life and he finally landed a good job at Watson's Electric Company and was able to move the family to the house that I know of and lived there for over 50 years now.  Pop loved to play softball and was deacon at the church for sometime. One of his favorite things to do was to nickname people. Not only did he have nicknames for family members but he would also nickname friends and my nickname was "Sheriff Gordon" I'll never forget that. Another special thing that he liked to do was collect pocket knifes. And at one time he sold out and only kept a few, but then he started collecting again and had a good collection again. Sadly, Pop passed away in November of 2006.

Jo Shipley

Joe Shipley, aka "Grandmother" was a good mother and my step mom said that if she could be half the mom that her mom was to her kids then she would be in good shape. Grandmother was a very Godly woman, as previously said she didn't work and would be a regular homemaker. She would sew dresses for the kids and it would be no surprise that one of the girls would come home and tell her that they needed a dress by friday night and tell her on Thursday night. Grandmother never worked until all the kids were grown and then got a little part time job at a clothing store just for something to do. One of Cathy's favorite memories about her mother was at Christmas time... everyone would be done opening the packages and Grandmother would ask, for instance, Cathy did you open up a blue sweater? And Cathy would say no... and so Grandmother would go into the other room and bring back a blue sweater! Every Christmas she always forgot to wrap something.

Cathy said now she realizes all the sacrifices that both her parents did to make their life's as happy as possible.