Shipley, Karl L

by Rainer Newberry, April 26, 2021

Karl was a math & science guy WAY COOLER than I was (admittedly, a low bar). I had math with him soph, jr, & senior year and tried to sit near him, hoping that some of his coolness would rub off. Sigh.

by Bob Oganovic, March 19, 2021

I knew Karl – if memory serves me right – from elementary school. I remember hanging out at his house a number of times. I recall he had a lot of Erector-set type stuff (electro-mechanical toys). He became a real math and science brain and a fine trumpeter – which is something he continued as an adult. Being around amateur musicians throughout my life, there is a stereotype that trumpeters are invariably full of themselves (Q: How many trumpet players does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Just one. He holds it in place and the whole world revolves around him). But Karl was anything but that – a modest, genial (yet at times very serious) guy. And (musically) in his senior year he branched out and joined the choir as a REAL low bass (rare in high school).

If there had been a varsity sideburn team at W-L he probably would have been co-captain (as his HS photo shows). On that point I remember his note in my yearbook – he congratulated me on (finally, late in senior year) being able to show vertical hair growth in front of my ears.

Here is his obituary.

1 comment

  1. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a co-worker who had been doing a little homework on this. And he actually bought me breakfast because I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending some time to discuss this issue here on your web site.

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