Thelma Maurine Shipp

1912 - 2010

Maurine Shipp, a truly remarkable woman, died Sept. 26, 2010 at the age 97 of in Berkeley.

Born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1912, the oldest of five children, she started working at the phone company at 16 and supported her family through the depression. She enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary (later the Army) Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was stationed in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. Sergeant Shipp worked in communications relaying information via Morse code. Her jungle stories of native peoples, shrunken heads, and Tokyo Rose referring to members of her military company by name were lessons of geography, history, and war propaganda that stirred her children's imagination for years.

After WWII, Maurine lived in New York City, worked for David Crystal (Izod), attended Columbia University on the GI bill, and was involved in the movements for worker rights. In 1960, she moved to California with her two children, Miriam and Evan Shipp. While a single mom and working full-time, she attended Cal State Northridge earning both her bachelor's degree in education and master's degree in psychology after the age of 50.

Maurine was a school teacher in the small town of Piru, and later taught and performed Psychometrics for the Fillmore Unified School District where she worked into her 70s. After retirement, Maurine moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, where she resided from the age of 75 until 90. Asked what she did all day in Oaxaca, she said, "I live," and she did!

She is survived by her two children, their spouses, Martin Hammer and Colby Morrow, and grandchildren, Aron Martinez and Izaak Shipp. Friends are invited to share memories and correspond with the family at maurine.shipp@comcast.net.