(Obituary)

Cecilia Dell Shipley was born on Halloween in 1945 in the Texas panhandle town of Pampa.  She was the firstborn of 3 daughters born to Cecil and Marjorie Shipley.  She fondly remembered childhood days in the small town Skellytown, Texas, where her father was employed by Skelly Oil Company for over 37 years.  Cecilia accepted Christ as her Savior at the age of 9 in the Skellytown Community Church.  She recalls her salvation and conversion in a Sunday School class with great gratitude and thankfulness.

She was the junior high school captain of the basketball team and the top scoring player back in the day of girls 6 team players on half court.  She was also a cheerleader and dated a football player…but Happy says the guitar players always get the best girl and she was by far the best.  The family was transferred to Stinnett, Texas where she attended high school and meeting and dating her future husband in 1962.  She was an outstanding student, officer and leader of many clubs and organizations, and was voted “Best All Around Girl 1964” by teachers and students.  She was really the Salutatorian for her class except for the school allowing for a student to graduate in 3 years which made Cecilia graduate third in her class where the top 3 students were separated by tenths of a point.

Cecilia and RC were married on June 5, 1965 in Borger, Texas.  RC has written 8 songs about Cecilia, 4 were before their marriage and 4 after they were married.  RC says, “Cecilia is the Love of my Life and the main reason I am Happy…Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and Cecilia (a lefty) sits at the Father’s left now.”  Cecilia and RC are the proud parents of 4 children, Christina born in Amarillo, Texas; Christopher (“Topher”) born in Borger, Texas; Ryan born in Liberal, Kansas; and Rachel born in Liberal, Kansas.  Cecilia loved each of her children deeply and was devoted to them.  She made a big production of their birthdays and as they were older, each family member had to dress in costume and do a skit in character to perform a play for the sibling being honored.  Cecilia laughed often and at times in a hilarious way with many delightful times that are recalled to this day.  She loved cooking and being the host for family events and welcomed guests often…one party at Hopper gardens had over 100 people in attendance, most were Reeds Spring staff.  Family dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas were “productions with themes”…every room in the house had a Christmas tree including bath rooms…many had snowmen also.  The dinners were buffet style with the best she had to offer which was very detailed with a lot of thought and concern.  One year Christmas decorations were up (including trees) even before Halloween and mostly before Thanksgiving.

Cecilia served in the ministry as a leader in the Church.  She was a paid staff member as Children’s Minister in Faith Tabernacle, a church she and RC founded and pastored for over 12 years, which became the 6^th largest among 37 churches in Liberal, Kansas at the time.  Happy stated that if Cecilia’s children’s ministry were a church, it would have been in the top 12 among the 37 and he credits her influence in the community at large for the success.  She wrote and directed programs, directed 14 one hour video plays, using a life size set similar to “Sesame Street” which was quite innovative in the 1970’s; she offered Saturday free babysitting for parents every quarter and in December it was billed: “Free babysitting while you shop for Christmas, 1-4PM.”  Instead of Vacation Bible School, Cecilia had puppet teams with actors in costume to conduct “Backyard Parties to share the Gospel”.  She had a volunteer staff of over 27 people.  She could ORGANIZE anything and used the “manipulation of “God will bless you for that.”  Many said they could not even think of turning her down.

Cecilia, RC, and their family moved to the Reeds Spring School District in February 1988.  She did babysitting in their home while RC was traveling doing concerts in churches.  She applied at the school and by 1992 was a staff member.  She worked faithfully in the special education department and was hired as the Adventure Club Director “latch key program” and the administrator for the summer program which was like a summer camp from 7AM to 6PM five days a week.  She wrote grants for the Summer School Lunch Program and also was the administrator…at times Cecilia and RC had 7 jobs between them and Cecilia had four with the various hats she wore serving simultaneously.  After her first year with Adventure Club, she had turned a profit for the program and Superintendent Williams was quite impressed and gave her a very nice bonus.  Cecilia had parent/teacher conferences multiple times daily while directing Adventure Club.  She would make the child who had hit or harmed another to sit by Mr. Hopper in time out, apologize to their fellow student, and then they had to apologize to the parent of the child they had offended…it was very effective.

Cecilia had some very close friends who have decorated for this special memorial service.  The friendships are very deep and go back many years when Cecilia developed a “Snow Team” to pray for snow days and dismissing of school.  She was very involved in the social events of the school and community and organized many special events and parties.  Cecilia enjoyed making birthday parties special for family and friends.  The depth and quality of her friendships were greatly admired by those who knew her.  She made special books for each of her friends and often paid tribute to them.  Cecilia blessed the lives of so many friends and was so appreciative of those who had blessed her life. 

Cecilia is survived by her husband of over 47 years and high school sweetheart of 50 years; 2 sisters: Laura Sloan and her husband, John of Guymon, Oklahoma; and Tammie Hastings and her husband, Ed of Amarillo, Texas; 4 children: Christina Hopper and her husband, Dru Siders of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Christopher Hopper (“Topher”) of Springfield, Missouri; Ryan Hopper and his partner, Jimalea Jones of Springfield, Missouri; and Rachel Highfill and her husband, Aaron of Springfield, Missouri. 4 grandchildren: Richard Gress and Kaden Gress, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Trevor Highfill, and Rebecca Highfill of Springfield, Missouri; one step granddaughter, Brooke Jones of Springfield, Missouri; and one great granddaughter, Dani Gress and one step great granddaughter Cali Woodard both of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  She loved her nephews, nieces, cousins, and all relatives especially those who have already made their journey to heaven. 

When Cecilia was informed of her fatal ALS disease, she said she was ready and looking forward to seeing her Mom and Dad…God’s LOVE and GRACE is sufficient because Great is His Faithfulness to us all