Headlines
Celebration of Life Service for 34-Year-Old Father Set for Wednesday
By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
Lance Shipley, 34, died Saturday from a massive heart attack. A GoFundMe has been set up to assist his family.
Photo from GoFundMe
A Celebration of Life for the late Lance Shipley will be held from 6:15 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Stone Center. Friends are asked to bring a meal to share.
Shipley, 34, died Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi from an apparent massive heart attack.
A GoFundMe account started Monday by Shipley’s 13-year-old daughter has raised more than $4,300 as of Tuesday afternoon to help Shipley’s family.
Shipley leaves behind his wife, Meagan Staggs Shipley of Oxford; children, Savannah Harlow Shipley and Harrison Wyatt Shipley, both of Oxford; goddaughter, Ava Grace Byles of Oxford; step-son, Hayden Michael Staggs of Oxford; son, Killian Garrett Foster Shipley, who is due to come into this world in early February; sisters, Katie Anderson of Idyllwild, CA. and Morgan Shipley of Elk Grove, CA.; his parents, Scott and Jo Elna Shipley of Elk Grove, CA.; and his in-laws, Michael and Donna Staggs of Sardis.
Shipley was an avid Pokémon Go player and joined the growing Pokémon Go Oxford community around 2017.
“That’s when most of us started to get to know Lance,” said friend Jason Bohenek. “Lance was a dedicated community member who was always kind and considerate to everyone he came across. We will always remember Lance for his cheerful attitude and his incredible work ethic that supported his family.”
The Pokémon Go community is holding a baby shower for Shipley’s unborn son on Saturday in the Grove during a Pokémon Go Community Day Event where they will be collecting diapers and other baby items for Shipley’s wife and child.
Dodo’s Pizza in Oxford will be donating a portion of its sales to the Shipley family from Jan. 14-20. A Pokémon Go tournament at 7 p.m. on Friday at Bad Eddy’s Hobbies and Collectibles in Oxford is being named after Shipley and all proceeds will go into the GoFundMe account.
Bohenek said Shipley’s death is not the first time the Pokémon Go community has opened its arms to its community members in need, from helping a woman to get to Ireland for a family medical emergency and donating to cancer research in the name of a member’s father who died from cancer.
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