Leah Mae (Hamman) Shipley was born on January 23, 1929 to George and Opal (Rascher) Hamman.  She was the oldest  of four girls raised on the family farm between Nodaway and Corning.  She graduated from Nodaway High School in 1946.  She married James Shipley and to this union two children were born, Nancy Carol (Shipley) Mills (deceased) and Richard Shipley of Elkhorn, NE.

Leah Mae worked at Montgomery Ward as a bookkeeper for many years in Shenandoah, Oskaloosa and Maryville, MO.  She also worked at Supersweet Feeds in Oskaloosa as a bookkeeper and for Select Motors in Shenandoah.  Most recently she worked for Hy-Vee in Shenandoah, sampling foods.

Following a stroke, she has resided at Heritage Ridge Assisted Living in Bellevue, Nebraska.  Leah Mae enjoyed working in her yard, welcomed having company and enjoyed cooking meals for her kids and grandkids.  She was very energetic and a hard worker.

She was preceded in death by her parents, George and Opal Hamman, her husband James, daughter Nancy and sister Carolyn Dixon.  Leah Mae is survived by her son Richard and wife Diana, granddaughters Lori Miller (Josh) of Sioux Falls and Katie Shipley of Denver, two great-grandsons, Easton and Griffin Miller.  She is also survived by sisters Lila Norton of Fairfax, MO and Shirley Bartz (Chuck) of Red Oak as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.