Donald Shipp said when he was coming up through school, he was mostly surrounded by girls.
“When you do that, they’re just kind of like sisters,” he said. “There’s no romance, you just play with them. But Lord, this new girl came to town and hot dog, she turned me on.”
“Lord, he tells all these stories,” Dewey Shipp said.
Donald Shipp and his wife Dewey have been married for 69 years now.
“I was born on the twenty-second of March in 1927. She was born September 26, 1926,” Shipp said. “She’s older than me, I want you to know that.”
Dewey rolled her eyes and they both laughed.
Shipp, a tall man with a deep voice, loves to tell stories and make people laugh. Dewey, petite with snow white hair and clear blue eyes, balances him out.
They live on 42 acres of land on a country road in Big Creek, in the home where Dewey’s family (William Erving and Ophelia Brewer Chapman) had moved when she was in her early high school years. That’s where they first courted.
Shipp, sitting at the kitchen table in the century-old home with Dewey, pointed toward the front door.
“We courted on a swing on that front porch out there,” Shipp said. “I think her mama was sitting in the living room watching us.”
Shipp and Dewey courted throughout high school, then World War II came along.
Before finishing the eleventh grade, Shipp volunteered for the Navy. His father (Green Berry Shipp) had taken him to Tupelo to sign up and they told Shipp to finish the eleventh grade before they’d call him to serve.
When the time came for Shipp to go off to war, he told Dewey he wasn’t going to ask her to marry him, but asked for her to wait for his return.
“She said she’d wait until I got back,” Shipp said. “I got discharged from the Navy in 1946 and there she was waiting.”
“I wasn’t there waiting,” Dewey corrected him. “I got a job and went to work.”
“Well, you were waiting for me to get home,” Shipp smiled at her.
Growing up, Shipp worked on his daddy’s farm in Big Creek. He said he didn’t have a lot of money coming back from the war.
When he was discharged in New Orleans in 1946, he gathered the money he did have and went to the jewelry store in town.
“I bought a ring… kind of small,” Shipp said. “Somebody asked why I didn’t just get a wedding ring and I told them I wasn’t sure she would take this one.”
She did. Then after Shipp spent a year at community college, they got married.
“Come May, we’ll be married 70 years,” Shipp said. “That’s a long time.”
“Most people don’t live that long,” Dewey said.
Shipp finished his schooling at the University of Mississippi, graduating from the pharmacy school in 1950.
Five years later, the couple moved to Clarksdale where Shipp ran two pharmacies for 40 years. He sold his last one in 1995.
Thirteen or fourteen years ago is when they moved back to Big Creek to settle.
The house, built before 1900 by Dr. Ralph Criss of Coffeeville — another story Shipp likes to tell— is decorated from the floor to ceiling in every room. Awards Shipp has been recognized with for his decades-long work as a pharmacist and working with alcohol and drug rehabilitation groups hang throughout the house.
Each family member has at least a few photos of them scattered throughout the home. Magnets hold up individual portraits of the Shipps’ four children (Donald Shipp Jr., Pamela Ann Lewis, Mary Susan Griffin, David Ervin Shipp), grandchildren, and great-grandchildren on the refrigerator in the kitchen, like a family tree with each generation of photos getting longer.
On one side of the front door hangs a cross and the other side has a bookshelf with more pictures. In the living room, another bookshelf sits with photos including a framed one of Shipp and Dewey on their wedding day and a line of encyclopedias.
Shipp and Dewey, like any parent or grandparent, brag about each of their children and grandchildren. They say that’s what they’re most proud of in life. Each of their children is college-educated, three out of four graduating from Ole Miss.
“We’ve got a sweet family,” Dewey said.
Shipp takes pride in how they’ve raised up a good family.
He said when he grew up, his daddy taught them right from wrong. One of the biggest things, Shipp remembers growing up was nobody touching the food before his daddy blessed it. It was ingrained into him and he ingrained it into his children.
One of the Shipp’s youngest great-grandchildren, Kate, recently had her third birthday party.
“They had food and cake and all of this stuff,” Shipp said. “ Little Kate said, ‘Wait. Wait. We can’t eat until we bless the food and hold hands.’ That’s a pretty good legacy when your great-grandkids say you can’t eat until you hold hands and bless the food.”
Shipp holds heritage and legacy close.
“My folks have always believed in law and order and doing right,” Shipp said. “I treasure heritage because it needs to be carried on.”
Most, if not all, of Shipp’s morals, ethics, and hardworking attitude came from his parents which has been passed down through the family life.
“I’ve researched my family,” Shipp said. “We go way back.”
One of the things Shipp found that he was most proud of was his family’s history in the military. Men in Shipp’s family have been serving their country in the military since the Revolutionary War with General George Washington.
Shipp may not have become a farmer like his daddy was but he does have his own, large-size garden. There are about 29 different crops growing in it.
Products from the garden, mainly vegetables like ripe tomatoes, sit on the kitchen counter next to Shipp’s latest crossword puzzles.
Dewey pulls out a large bag from the freezer, showing off the large, plump blackberries they’re saving for later. Some of which, Dewey had already made into a syrup. She says they prefer syrup over jam.
“You have to have a garden or you starve to death,” Shipp said. “That’s that country boy philosophy.”
Shipp is the one that mainly tends to the garden, but both Shipp and Dewey like to take walks together.
“I believe the secret to a long life is eat right, exercise, and walk close to God,” Shipp said.
He’s stayed busy and involved for as long as he can remember. Along with his pharmacy work and work with alcohol and drug rehabilitation groups, Shipp taught Sunday school at his church, is a lifetime member of the Rotary Club, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and Disabled American Veterans.
Dewey’s been alongside Shipp for everything.
“The only thing, she’s been mad at me a few times but she’s got this marriage instinct of her duties,” Shipp said. “She could be mad at me but she still gets up and cooks my breakfast. I got my sausage, eggs, and biscuits. Sixty-nine years, she’s fixed my breakfast. Not many people can say that, can they?”
The Shipps agreed that they’ve had a wonderful life reflecting upon it.
“We’ve had a good, happy life with God’s help,” Shipp said with a light in his eye, looking at Dewey.