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It was 1974, and Ed and Gloria Shipman, in their early forties, lived in their country home on acreage just outside Dallas-Fort Worth.  Ed was happy in his ministry and work.  Their two sons, Chuck and Todd, were sixteen and fourteen years of age.  The family was “comfortable.”  Little did the Shipman’s realize that a telephone call for help from a local marshal was about to change the whole course of their lives.  In response to that marshal’s appeal for help, the Shipman’s took two runaway teenage sisters into their home.  In an effort to find a permanent home for the girls, the Shipman’s visited child-care facilities throughout Texas.  The sisters were finally placed in a small children’s home near Austin.  The administrator was an old seminary friend of Ed’s.  During the time they were looking for a place for the girls, the Shipman family had been touched by the desperate plight of thousands of America’s troubled children -- the “drop-outs” and “kicked-outs” of society.

A year later, 1975, the Shipman’s made a family decision to stop a land development they had begun just southwest of the Metroplex on a 266-acre working farm, and to build a home for at-risk children.  They set up a non-profit, charitable corporation and deeded their assets completely to the non-profit.   

At the beginning, “there was little but our dream,” says Ed Shipman.  “The sports program was a concrete slab and a basketball hoop.”  The children worked in the garden, baled hay, picked corn, stacked rock (which was later used in the construction of buildings and retaining walls), and cared for the livestock.  “We had milk goats, chickens, rabbits, and cattle,” says Shipman.  “We literally raised most of what we ate.  In retrospect, the children were developing a good work ethic, strong moral and spiritual values, and getting a better-than-average education in the Farm’s private school, even when we were just beginning.”

The Shipman’s say “Happy Hill Farm Academy is a contemporary miracle.  Our boarding school now has bed space for 125 students with plans to grow to 200 students.

Now thirty-five years later, Happy Hill Farm Academy has been a safe haven for hundreds and hundreds of boys and girls, who -- for whatever reason – needed to be out of their family and school settings.  All are desperately in need of help if they are to become productive young adults.

The children come to the campus of Happy Hill Farm from throughout Texas.  Most are referred by teachers or counselors who know of the Farm’s reputation for quality care and education.  They also know that Happy Hill Farm Academy is one of the few schools that will take children regardless of their ability to pay.

The 500-acre rolling farm/campus contains twelve home-style living units.  There is a husband/wife resident-parent couple in each home.  There are athletic fields, an athletic center, dining center, chapel, vocational agriculture complex, barns, greenhouse, wood shop, and a 60,000 square foot Academy complex with a fine arts center.

Boys and girls, 5-18 years of age, are considered for admission without regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin.  There are, on campus, boys and girls from any number of racial backgrounds.

Happy Hill Farm Academy is accredited by The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the Texas Association of Private Schools, the Texas Association of Non-Public Schools, and a member of CORE (Coalition of Residential Education).

Read Allison Hatfield’s article on Ed Shipman’s Life “Magnificent Obsession” www.happyhillfarm.org/pdf/magnificent_obsession.pdf