Thursday, April 25, 2024
The bill to rename part of State Highway 144 after Ed Shipman, who with his wife Gloria founded Happy Hill Farm and positively impacted the lives of many children, was on its way to the governor’s desk Tuesday morning after having passed the Texas House and Senate, according to a staffer in the office of State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury.
The stretch of State Highway 144 between U.S. Highway 67 and Mitchell Bend Highway in Hood County will be renamed the Ed Shipman Memorial Highway effective Sept. 1.
Happy Hill Farm, now called North Central Texas Academy, is located at 3846 State Highway 144 on a 500-acre working farm.
The Shipmans launched their effort to provide children with quality education in a loving family environment out of a mobile home in Granbury in 1975, one year after the couple took in two teenage girls who had fled a bad home situation.
Today, NCTA is a fully accredited, comprehensive, academic program and boarding school serving more than 175 students in grades K-12. Supported by scholarships, boys and girls live on the campus year-round in small group homes overseen by house parents.
Shipman died in August 2016.
House Bill 2835 was authored by State Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, and State Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville. Slawson represents District 59, which now encompasses Hood County. Birdwell sponsored the bill.
The Hood County Commissioners Court in March adopted a resolution in support of the initiative to rename a portion of SH 144 for Shipman.
