Virginia Shipp

Virginia Shipp was one of the nicest people that you likely never knew. She lived a quiet, simple life in her modest home (valued at $39,000) on Carl Road in Irving. She loved giving to help our city’s only charitable hospital…but would never let the foundation’s staff tell anyone about the good she made possible to help make healthcare better for her neighbors. Her first gift was $1,000—a sizeable one in 1980s (and today!). Over the next two decades, she supported programs primarily to support cancer care. The love of her life, Tom Shipp, had died of cancer and Virginia would eventually battle and defeat it. At the time of her death in 2008, Mrs. Shipp contributed $1.6 million—bringing her lifetime giving to nearly $2 million—comprising gifts of insurance and charitable gift annuities that had paid her an income stream throughout her life. (You can learn more about charitable gift annuities here.) Her quiet legacy of caring and giving continue today through two endowments that help fund our foundation’s annual operating expenses and cancer support services.