farragutpress

To the final goodbye, Shipleys, Ben enjoyed lifelong friendship

July 16, 2020 by Alan Sloan

It was a special goodbye among close friends from Farragut, both of whom would have their rich, fruitful lives come to an end within a few weeks of each other.

“It was the sweetest thing,” said Benna Boring of Farragut, about how Anne McFee Shipley came by the home of Benna’s father and Anne’s best friend since childhood, Ben Boring, who in his early 90s was in hospice last spring.

“We brought him home (from the hospital) and we put his hospital bed in the living room so he could look out the window over the farm,” the daughter added.

Anne “wanted to drive by” because “they didn’t know how much longer she had, either. But she was at least able to get up and get in the car,” Benna Boring said.

Being coronavirus pandemic-aware, the plan was for the Shipleys’ son, Ed Shipley, to drive their car “to the front window” and “I will raise dad’s bed up and get him awake, because I know he wanted to see her,” she said.

“The two of them waved at each other … dad’s eye just lit up. It meant the world just being able to look out the window to her,” Benna Boring added. “It was a real precious moment.

“It was the last time they saw each other.”

While Mr. Boring died in May, Anne — a popular Farragut schoolteacher — passed away June 13. Her husband of 68 years, Bill Shipley — a highly respected long-time employee of the Concord Telephone Company — passed away just three weeks later, July 6.

Close from first grade

Having known each other since first grade at Farragut school, Ben “always called Anne, basically, his longest friend. He had known her longer than anybody he’d known in his life,” Benna Boring said. “They were born less than a month apart and died less than a month apart.

“And lived around the corner from each other their whole lives,” she added.

(Read more details about Ben Boring’s life in a page 2B memorial story in our May 28 issue)

Respected in community

Bill and Anne received a “Lifelong Service Award” plaque from their home church, Virtue Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while also being honored by having the VCPC Family Life Center renamed “Shipley Hall” during a special 131-Year Homecoming celebration at the church July 15, 2018.

Bill and Anne “have given tirelessly of their time, treasure and talent,” Cindy Winchester, church secretary, said during the celebration.

“That family, in particular, has an especially interesting story with names that (are) recognizable to everyone in Farragut,” Winchester added. “… Anne’s father, Fred McFee, started Concord Phone Company (now TDS), and Bill Shipley worked there his entire adult life, bringing telephone to this then-rural community.”

Working relationship

With all three graduating together in the Farragut High School Class of 1946, this three-way friendship also was a working relationship.

“They grew up hauling hay together,” Benna Boring said. “She would drive the tractor, and Bill would come down to the barn and make sure everything was safe and sound once the hay got up in the hay loft.”

Nelle’s memories

Added to this life-long friendship circle has been Nelle Irwin Strange, also from the FHS Class of 1946.

Dating back to the first grade at Farragut school, Anne “was my best friend, and I know I was her best friend,” Nelle said.

“Anne was very kind, laid-back, easy going and quiet,” Nelle added.

As for what she remembered most about Bill, “He had this great big laugh, and a big grin from ear to ear,” Nelle said. “And he liked to joke; he liked to tell tales. Very out-going, and a happy person.

“I never would have dreamed, way back in high school, of him and Anne ever getting married,” she added. “Then, all at once — I guess we were juniors or something like that — they started dating, and that was it.

“They made a wonderful couple.”

Though separated for a few years after graduating from FHS — Nelle attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, while Anne went to East Tennessee State University — when they returned to Farragut “we all started going out to dinner together once a month.”

This lasted for decades “until a few years ago,” Nelle said.

Also in this friendship circle were the late Joe Bacon and the late W. C. Franse.