Obituary of James Hipple

Services celebrating the life of James (Jay) Blackman Hipple will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 16, 2011, at First United Methodist Church of Shreveport. Visitation at the church will be held Wednesday beginning at 12:00 noon and continuing until 2:00 p.m. Interment will be at Forest Park Cemetery, 3700 St. Vincent Avenue, following the services at the church. Jay passed away on November 12, 2011, after a brief and courageous struggle with cancer. He is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, Jeanette Pellerin Hipple, his daughter, Carolyn Hipple Tanner, his sons-in-law, Kyle D. Tanner and Mike W. McKay, four wonderful grandchildren, Kaitlin M. Tanner, Quinn E. Tanner, James Watson McKay, and Harris A. McKay, his sister, Judith Hipple Prothro, and her husband, C.B. Prothro and their three daughters. He was preceded in death by youngest daughter, Leah Hipple McKay, and his parents, James Bowman Hipple and Leola Blackman Hipple. Jay was born October 14, 1934, in Pierre, South Dakota. His family moved to Shreveport in 1941. He graduated from Byrd High School in 1953 and from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1957, where he was a Sigma Chi. He was also affiliated with Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary financial organization, and Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional business fraternity. He served on active duty in the U.S. Army Finance Corps from 1958 to 1960. He was honorably discharged in 1967 from the Army Reserve with the rank of Captain. Affiliated with Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation (and successor corporations) for 38 years, Jay retired in 1995 as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Panhandle Eastern Corporation in Houston, Texas. During his tenure with Texas Eastern, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1980. He was a Certified Public Accountant and served on the Board of Directors of TEPPCO (a NYSE listed company) and of National Methanol. Other professional organizations included the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Texas and Louisiana Societies of CPA?s, Financial Executives Institute (serving as president of the Houston chapter and as a national director), and the Institute of Internal Auditing (serving as president of the Ark-LA-Tex chapter). He also served on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Performing Arts in Houston. Jay was a member of First United Methodist Church of Shreveport and served as a Stephen Minister. For Jay, family always came first. Whether it was creating wonderful memories every day, on trips with his wife, children and grandchildren, or simply making sure he was there for all of their activities, he was, first and foremost, a loving husband, father, and granddaddy. Pallbearers at the service will be Raymond Pellerin, Harris J. Pellerin, Jr., Mike McKay, Watson McKay, Harris McKay, and C.B. Prothro. Honorary pallbearers will be Donald Sonnier, Gene Richardson, Ed Cooper, Charles Boone, Clay Brock, Dr. Roy Fleniken, Dr. Clint McAlister, Roy Trice, Gene Peeples, and Kenneth Eaves. The family wishes to thank Dr. Emma McCarty, Dr. Roy Fleniken, Dr. Robert Massingill, Dr. Roscoe Chan, the nurses and staff at Grace Home, and Dr. Seungtaek Choi and Diana Amaya, RN, at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Christus Schumpert Grace Home, Faithlink at First United Methodist Church of Shreveport, MD Anderson Cancer Center of Houston, or to the charity of the donor?s choice.