James Morris Shipton

1924 - 2021

James Morris Shipton, of Silverdale, Washington, died peacefully of natural causes on January 15, 2021, at age 96, after a lifetime of devotion to family and friends.

James ("Jim") was born May 10, 1924, to parents Dr. George Marsden Shipton and Grace Morris Shipton of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He attended Pittsfield public schools and the Hotchkiss School. He then studied at Williams College, earning his Bachelor of Science (Electrical Communications) from MIT. He later studied at Cornell and received his Ph.D. (Social Psychology) from Harvard.

During the World War II era, as a U.S. Navy officer, he served first in supervising installation of radar on ships at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA, and then in communication security in the Pacific. In Seattle he met Mary Elizabeth ("Polly") Cornu; they married on June 4, 1948.

On the Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty in the early 1950s, he taught administration to superintendents of schools and college deans and directed research on public opinion. He went on to a succession of senior management roles at the General Electric Company, first directing its Management Development Institute at Crotonville, NY, and then, in GE's Manhattan headquarters, working in human resources and marketing and public relations. Later he entered as the senior officer for human resources and communications at the Dayton Hudson (Target) Corporation, based in Minneapolis, and then at the First National Bank of Chicago (BankOne). He was Chairman of the Conference Board's Advisory Council on Management and Personnel Research.

After he and Polly retired to Hansville, Washington, in 1981, they traveled widely, and he actively volunteered locally in education and environmental causes. He served two decades as the steward of the Foulweather Bluff Preserve of The Nature Conservancy (once being named the nation's volunteer of the year); tutored reading at Wolfle Elementary School; and was a docent for the Point No Point lighthouse that marks the entrance to Puget Sound. He also served six years on the board of the Greater Hansville Community Center. He was known for his personal warmth, probity, and keen intellect. Since his Berkshire Hills boyhood, he maintained a 65-year passion for skiing, as well as math and history. The family thanks the entire staff at Crista Shores/Silverdale for their superb attention and care.

James was predeceased by his parents; his wife of 41 years; and a sister, Janet Stuart of Schenectady, N.Y. He is survived by his sisters Lois Brunton of Columbia, SC, and Elinor Oberholtzer of Newtown Square, PA; his daughters Sarah (James Nourse) of Lyme, NH, and Elizabeth, of Minneapolis, MN; his son Parker (Polly Steele) of Cambridge, MA; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Donations in his memory may be sent to The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203-1606 (noting "This gift is in honor of Jim Shipton; please direct to Foulweather Bluff in Washington State"), or to the Jim Shipton fund of the Greater Hansville Scholarship Fund, Hansville Community Center, P.O. Box 133, Hansville, WA 98340.