Marion Whipple

Marion "Whip" Whipple
1927 ~ 2014
Marion "Whip" Whipple passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, February 25, 2014. He was born November 5, 1927 in Vancouver, Washington and moved to Boise as a small child. Dad attended Washington Elementary, North Junior High and graduated from Boise High School in 1945. He attended the University of Idaho and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. With his best friend, Barr Smith, dad joined the Army in 1946. While in the service, he met his "other brother," Rollie Walk. Dad mustered out and came back to Boise where he attended Boise Junior College. During this time, he worked as a ski patrolman. This is how he met the woman he would marry, JoAnne McNeil. It's the one time Mom didn't mind the snow so much. Mom and Dad married in Boise on August 21, 1949, and returned to Moscow so Dad could go back to school. There are many stories of the VA Village. After leaving Moscow, Whip and JoAnne made their home in Caldwell and raised the first three of their four children, of whom he was exceedingly proud: Scott (Diana), Annie, and Patti (Kim). The youngest, Maggie (Randy), arrived after the family moved to Indiana when Whip began working for the JR Simplot Company. Dad told Jack that he always wondered when he was going to begin working, because from the day he started it was just fun. Whip held many different positions at Simplot, and rose to Vice President of International Operations before retiring. After leaving Simplot, Whip became involved in Volunteers Overseas Cooperative Assistance and traveled to Russia three times, to Armenia and Poland. Whip loved to golf and was the consummate fly fisherman. He maintained that the only way to fish was to get out in the river with them. Whip's family was everything to him. Along with his own kids, he got to help raise his two grandchildren, James and Corri. He also got to spend a lot of time with his great-grandson, Drew "Drewby." The other love of his life, was the little Border terrier, Poppy, who came into his life this past year. She brought him lots of joy and was his TV-watching buddy. One thing Whip wanted anyone reading this to do is STOP SMOKING! Marion is preceded in death by his parents, Roy and Elsie Whipple, his older brother, Willis, and his younger sister, Joye Lee Klundt. He is survived by his wife of almost 65 years, JoAnne, his four children, grandkids and great-grandson. Private family services are pending. The family requests donations to the Idaho Food Bank in lieu of flowers.