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Show 283 Her medical college in Philadelphia invited her to speak at its 1935 commencement as the oldest living graduate, then gave her a gold medal to memorialize the event. She was 89 at the time. The accompanying picture, if of that time, shows her to be a woman grown beautiful through enlarged experience, just as she appears in some of the photos where she is seated, surrounded by the nursing school graduates of various classes, sweet and soft, with the graciousness of a compassionate nature showing through. We are inclined to believe the picture is of an earlier vintage, for there is another, in a different clipping, showing her in a mortarboard, which she would very likely have worn on that signal occasion, looking old and worn and almost unrecognizable. We are guessing that the mortarboard picture was taken when she was 89, and that the other softer one places her in her mid seventies. The Utah Hall of Fame selected her as one of only a few elect ladies they had singled out for honors. In 1938 at the age of 91, standing on the hill of time, she was elected to Utah's Hall of Famous Women. In her response to the introduction at the dinner, she expressed one of the strongest attitudes of her being, a sense of love for all mankind. The feeling was in her word and in her voice and in the expression of her aged, well-loved face. Ellis Shipp had never ceased to be dauntless and dependable, kindly and considerate.1,3 In a 91st birthday tribute to Ellis her daughter, Ellis S. Musser, called her a "mother doctor." The reason, she said lovingly, addressing her comments to the honoree, was that "no matter what title you may have won in later years it must be hyphenated with "mother" first.14 Gleaned from that tribute: |
