erna Ellen Scholes was born on February 22, 1928 in Portage, Wisconsin to parents Edna Mae & Samuel Eugene Scholes. The youngest of four children, Verna’s earliest years were spent on a farm, with lots of animals and a huge garden she helped her mother to tend. It was while attending Vacation Bible School in sixth grade, that Verna first realized that she needed a Savior, and entrusted herself to Jesus Christ. As she grew in the Lord she began to attend Bible camps, witness to her school friends, and read the Bible she earned by picking strawberries for 3 cents per quart. This habitual quite-time with the Lord was a practice she maintained her entire life. There was never a day her children and grandchildren didn’t find her in the early mornings at her desk meditating on the Word of God.

During High School Verna was convicted that the Lord was calling her to attend Bible School, and chose to attend Midwest Bible & Missionary Institute in St. Louis Missouri. While there she met and married her husband, Ralph, and they welcomed their first two daughters, Lynda and Vicki. The family moved to Ralph’s hometown of Salina, Kansas in the mid-1950’s and there the Lord blessed them with three more children: Richard, Connie, and Sandra.

Throughout her life Verna was an active member of her home church, Faith Bible Church, and Beverly Community Church, where Ralph served as the Pastor for 6 years (1969-1974). She served as a teacher in Sunday School, Good News Club, and AWANA. Verna and Ralph raised their family to honor the Lord, and as a result all their children and grandchildren have come to know Him. In addition to her service to the church, she also worked faithfully for USD 305 school district as a lunch lady for 20+ years, and as a sales person for Alco & Stanley Home Products.

Verna was first and foremost a homemaker, who loved her family and dedicated her life to serving others. She regularly visited the elderly into her 90s, and cared for those in need – even the neighborhood birds. She frequently hosted missionaries and friends, and delighted in a full table at Sunday dinner, which was usually supplied by the bountiful garden she and her husband lovingly cultivated in their backyard. Through her hospitality and sacrificial love, the Shipe home became a gathering place and haven for multiple generations of their family and friends even through the final moments of her life.

Verna is deeply loved by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and she will be profoundly missed. We rejoice that the faith that guided her life has now been made sight, and eagerly await the day we will meet her again.

Verna is preceded in death by her husband, Ralph, parents, and three siblings. She is survived by her five children: Lynda, Vicki, Rich, Connie, and Sandy, 8 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends from 12:00 pm to the service time at 1:00 pm on Friday, December 15, 2023 at the Faith Bible Church, 2100 Quincy in Salina. Internment will follow at the Gypsum Hill Cemetery.

Memorial donations to the Faith Bible Church, 2100 Quincy or the Word of Life Fellowship and may be sent to the Carlson-Geisendorf Funeral Home, 500 S. Ohio, Salina, KS 67401.

To send a condolence to the family visit the funeral home website at [email protected].