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- JOHNSON CITY - Jewel Fern Baird Shipley, 80, Johnson City, died Sunday, March 19, 2023, at her residence, following a lengthy illness.
Jewel was a native of Watauga County, NC, and lived most of her life in Johnson City. She was a daughter of the late Henry Clay and Georgia Cleota Snyder Baird.
Jewel received her Bachelor of Nursing Degree from East Tennessee State University.
She began her health care career in 1966 with the Washington County Health Department as a staff nurse in the Child Health and Family Planning Clinics. In 1983, Jewel moved to the Northeast Tennessee Regional Health Office where she held multiple positions, including Child Health and Development Nursing Consultant, Maternal and Child Health Nursing Consultant, and Regional Director of Children’s Special Services Program, retiring in 2009 after forty-three years of dedicated Public Health Nursing services. Jewel was proud to have been awarded the Federal Southeast Region Maternal and Child Health Nursing Award. She was a lifetime member of the Tennessee Public Health Association and formerly served on their Nursing Board. Jewel was also a longtime Volunteer Nurse for the American Red Cross.
She was a member of Calvary Baptist Church and loved spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Jewel enjoyed spending time at the family’s second home, Venture Out of Gatlinburg, sewing and playing Solitaire.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of fifty-seven years, Baxter Hamer Shipley, in 2020, her daughter, Melissa Shipley Slagle, in 1995, a granddaughter, Zoe Bryann Shipley, in 2019, a sister, Iva Saylor, and an infant brother, Harlan Baird.
Jewel is survived by two sons, Bryan Shipley, Jonesborough, Robert Shipley and wife Laura, Jonesborough; three grandchildren, Jessica Slagle De La Vega and husband Salvador, Ty Shipley, Sara Shipley Hood and husband Morgan, all of Jonesborough; three great-grandchildren, Rylie De La Vega, Ava De La Vega, and Kimber Hood, all of Jonesborough; son-in-law, Johnny Slagle; one sister, Reba Freeman, Johnson City; two brothers, Thomas Baird, Gray, and Henry Baird, Morristown; several nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
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Abt 1943 - 2023 (~ 80 years)
