Madge Gertrude Holst Shipley

Madge Gertrude Holst was born June 30, 1912, in a small railroad town that isn’t there anymore - Mammoth, Juab, Utah. She was the 4^th child of Jens or James Christian Holst and Amelia Malloy Holst. Madge joined James (Ted), Faye and Erma. She was the baby of the family for a while, but as it seems all good things come to an end, she became an older sister when later two more boys joined the family, Nyles and Christie (Chris/Bud).

Her name given at birth was Gertrude, later her name was decidedly changed to Madge. The birth certificate still states her name as Gertrude, a family name on her father’s side, but the name Madge Gertrude would stick with her from then on. Although many of us here today and many others would come to effectionately know her as "Grandma".

Grandma felt a loss at an early age as young brother Nyles died August 15, 1915. Her father would die about a year later December 8, 1916.

The young widow Amelia, stayed on their dry farm in Idaho for some time and then moved to Ucon for 5 years and Idaho Falls for 2 more years.

After a brief stay there she and her family moved to Murray, Utah to live with Amelia's parents, Charlotte and stepfather Thomas Birch. The family would later come back to Idaho Falls and Amelia would marry A. L. Petersen on July 9, 1925.

A couple of Grandma’s childhood experience would dictate that she was quite the little thinker. Whether it was the times as a child that she and her brother Chris would sneak their morning egg out the door and down to the local store in an effort to trade them for candy, or the time when as a child with a responsibility to do the Housework; she decided to find an easier way to make the floor shiny, by coating it with milk. On these occasions her ingenuity would be rewarded with the prize of success as the shopkeeper would look the other way when they got the candy knowing that their eggs were hard boiled and of no use for trading. And indeed the floor would become shiny, but everyone would always wonder why the floor was so sticky when they walked.

Grandma loved her mother very much and called her everyday they lived close enough until Amelia’s death in the spring of 1973. One of Grandma’s favorite family experiences, was sipping Brigham or Mormon tea and eating Grandpa Petersen’s baked goodies with her sisters and mother, talking and laughing for hours on end. All Grandma and Grandpa Petersen’s children and their friends met each Sunday as well as other afternoons to visit on the porch and play basketball and games and as time pasted it soon included the grandchildren as well and their friends. This went on until Grandma and Grandpa Petersen moved to California in 1972.

Grandma, soon grew up and married Clarence William Davies July 13, 1928 in St. Anthony, Fremont, Idaho. Most of their marriage they lived in Southern California but traveled to many places in the United States including New York, Boston, New Orleans, to just name a few.

March 16, 1935 she gave birth to a beautiful brown haired, blue eyed baby daughter and named her Clare Ann. Clare’s birth was very difficult and due to blood poisoning, and the lack of penicillin, she spent many months in the hospital, but gathered her strength when she heard the people that were taking care of Clare Ann were trying to keep her. She went to their house, walked in, gathered the baby up and took her to the car. When at home she collapsed and tended her child from the couch even teaching her to walk from there until she got her strength again. Through experiences like these and perhaps those of her childhood she became very protective of her children and would only let her mother take care of them when she needed help.

August 1, 1938 Madge married Clarence Le Roy Shipley in Salt Lake City, Utah. They celebrated at her sister Faye Eustance’s house in Murray, Utah. The wedding photos include 3 year old Clare Ann. Others in photos are Madge’s grandmother Charlotte Larsen Malloy Birch, Auntie Faye, Joye and Doren Eustance.

June 8, 1939,the family would grow as Jack Joseph Shipley, a long skinny baby with red fuzz and blue eyes, joined the family in Salt Lake City, Utah. The birth was a very hard one and Jack was given up for dead, but perhaps having some of his mother's tenacity in him already he was saved by a nurse noticing a movement. She rescued him and today Jack lives as a testament of the love and strength of a mother and perhaps the prompting’s of the Lord working upon a nurse.

Then it was off to California where Bonnie Madge Shipley joined the family after 2 months of the family being apart. Grandma stayed across the street from the hospital in a boarding house waiting for the birth where Clarence visited her on weekends . The two older children stayed with different sets of Aunts and Uncles. While waiting for the birth of Bonnie, Grandma would often complain of the boredom, saying she had nothing to do but enjoyed eating bags of green grapes on the porch, day after day, while watching people go by. The happy event finally happened on October 20, 1942 a month early. The nurse maybe also prompted, came to check up on Grandma. The nurse found her hemorrhaging, and after another childbirth ordeal, Bonnie Madge with red fuzz and blue eyes was born by caesarean, and both mother and child would gain strength from this shared ordeal. I would suppose that these difficult child births would be one of the reasons for the close bond between Grandma and her children.

In July 1943 Madge, Clare, Jack and Bonnie traveled by train to Grandma Petersen’s house in Ucon, Idaho. A few years later the family bought a house on Elmore Avenue in Idaho Falls and settled down for awhile. Madge and Nick’s Gypsy habit of moving on to better things soon led them elsewhere.

The family moved back to Sunny Southern California Christmas of 1948 to be closer to Clare Ann, who was living with her dad Clarence Davies in San Diago. The family enjoyed outings to the ocean where Madge would read and sunbathe with the children close by while Nick would fish from the pier.

Grandma's health took a bad turn and she lost weight down to 89 pounds. Her bed became a straight back chair to help her breathe. Due to these health problems, they moved back to Idaho Falls just a couple of years later where Grandma Petersen could help with the children and help nurse her daughter back to health.

Grandma was a homemaker until Bonnie was in 6^th grade. Her homemade whole wheat bread and stews won't be forgotten by those that ate them. Her first job was selling clothing at home parties for a very short time and she then went to work selling Studio Girl Cosmetics door to door. Her sales were huge. With her beautiful skin and looks, everyone wanted to buy from her. She started business school too but again due to bad health she was soon down for some time. After bouts with Scarlet and Rheumatic Fever, she slowly regained her strength and worked for a few dress stores keeping their books which helped contributed to her life long love of clothes.

One time her son-in-law Andy took a truck load of them down Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada to tease her. A delivery man asked if she was a buyer for a department store when he saw her bedroom full of clothes on racks except for a narrow path to her bed. In her later years her grandson Kenneth lived with her to finish out the school year after his parents had moved to Hawthorne. He recalled eating each day at K Mart, where Grandma would lay some clothing away or buy some. It was a very happy time for him to be with her. She loved all her grandchildren and knew just how to make them feel special. It worked on Ken so well he was afraid to move because he was certain she didn't know how to use a can opener and would starve.

She also worked in the business offices for Montgomery Wards, Sears, Western Auto, Pacific Diamond H Bay Company and Mel Brown’s in Idaho Falls.

Grandma lived in Reno, Nevada from 1973 till the end of 1997. Her daughter Bonnie left her position in the financial office of the newly opened Onslow Hotel Casino in the Spring of 1978, and moved to Hawthorne, Nevada. At the age of 65 Madge took over Bonnie’s job and went back to work full time and worked until the Onslow closed their doors when she was 80 years old. She didn’t go home to sit though, she went right back to school to learn computers and planned on getting another job. Nine months later she took a bad dose of L Triptathane a herbal suppliment from Japan and got deathly ill. Her health was affected for some time and she didn’t return to school or work again.

She enjoyed her simple life of going out to dinner each evening and enjoying her children and grandchildren whatever way she could. From telephone calls to letters and cards or visits. She drove her car until December 25, 1997 and would of kept doing it if the doctors and her children hadn’t put a stop to it. She questioned this decision until her death and thought there was no reason she couldn't of kept driving. She moved to Hawthorne December 26, 1997and had a stroke on March 17, 1998. She lost the ability to do a lot of things including speaking, but it never stopped her from living life the best way she could. She could often be remembered by me for keeping our dog Missy, warm and feeding the dog her food. We thought she was starting to eat again, but the only one gaining weight seemed to be the dog. She would often point us to death when we would do something wrong, and would always be humming her favorite songs. She felt it her duty to monitor the TV and objective language or romantic scenes would get her ratings of a shaking finger to loud objections. She finished the remainder of her life in peace and happiness, with Bonnie and her family until her death Sunday, January 3, 1999, at 12:13 PM. She was accompanied at the time of her death by her daughter Bonnie, and granddaughter Charlotte H. Shipley, where she quietly slipped away, after blowing Bonnie a kiss and telling her she loved her, concluding a life that was well lived with hardships and happiness and included 3 children, 13 grandchildren, and 7 great grand children. Madge Gertrude Holst Shipley lived to be 86 years 6 months and 4 days old.