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Curtis Shipley 2010 recipient Like many of the extraordinary individuals who have been honored over the past 24 years with the Wes Gordon Golden Deeds Award, 2010 honoree Curtis Shipley has a long legacy in Fayetteville of being a successful business- man and tireless civic servant. It all began in 1937 on the corner of Dick- son Street, where his father, Harry, and his uncle, Garvin, built Shipley Baking Co. "In those days the bread wasn't sliced or wrapped," Shipley said. "It initially came to Fayetteville by train from Fort Smith where the original Shipley Baking Company had been established in 1920. After things progressed, people just weren't making bread at home as much anymore. The housewives, they went bonkers over sliced bread, and they'd hustle down to the grocers for loaves of it." Shipley grew up in Fort Smith. After high school, he attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he earned a bachelor's degree in marketing with a minor in econom- ics. After graduation, he served in the Arkansas Army National Guard. In 1962, after six years of military service, he returned to Fayetteville, and at the age of 29 took over the operation of his family's business. Operating as a Holsum brand wholesale bread supplier, the Fayette- ville bakery produced 100 loaves of bread per minute and sold them to stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Shipley retired as vice chairman of the company. It is no exaggeration that residents of Fayetteville today benefit from the decades of hard work by Shipley and other like-minded community leaders, who have tirelessly given back to the city and helped to secure its growth and future. The long list of Shipley's contributions to the community is impressive. He has served on the board of directors of Washington Regional Medical Center for 28 years; and was a founding board member of the Washington Regional Medical Foundation and was involved in the campaign to expand the first hospital on North Street. Later, he served on the campaign to build the nationally ranked Washington Re- gional Medical Center of today at North Hills Boulevard and Fulbright Expressway. "Early in the hospital's history, board mem- bers and community leaders came together to plan for the future of health care," Curtis said. "We realized that Fayetteville was going to continue to grow and we needed a hospital that could serve not only the city, but the entire region." Shipley also served as president of the Fay- etteville Chamber of Commerce and has been a longtime board member of the Beaver Water District, which brought a reliable drinking water source to the region, spurring incredible growth. "The Beaver Water District was the first-ev- er real example of the region working together in the common interest of doing something collectively," he said. In addition, Shipley has been an active supporter of his alma mater. He was a chair on the University of Arkansas Foundation and UA National Development Council, as well as a member of the University of Arkansas Board of Advisors. He also raised money to restore the signature Old Main building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. As a downtown business owner and Univer- sity of Arkansas alumnus, Shipley knew many people in town and served on several additional boards, including the Fayetteville A&P Com- mission, First National Bank of Fayetteville, The Bank of Fayetteville, Fayetteville Youth Center and The Salvation Army of Northwest Arkansas. He also served as administrative chair on the board of directors at Central United Methodist Church. He and his wife, Jane, moved to Butterfield in June 2019. Today, they are happily retired and enjoying life in Fayetteville with their family and friends, and volunteering in the community they have both served. "One love that Curtis and I share is an endearment for Fayetteville," Jane said. "We've grown from a sleepy little college town, where everyone knows almost everyone, to a bus- tling city of just the right size. I appreciate the growth and development that we have in Fay- etteville and Northwest Arkansas, and Curtis has been a big part of that." 9 Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce

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