Anna Maria Shipman

After a short illness, Anna Maria (Mickey) Shipman (96) died peacefully on December 23, 2024.  Anna Maria was born in Steenbergen, Netherlands, into a family with two brothers, Gerard and Rinie and three sisters, Gerbinna, Poelie and Bettina (her twin).

During the Second World War they lived in Heerlen in southern Netherlands.  At the end of the war, she met an American Staff Officer, Thomas Cardamone, who she later married in 1948.  They moved to the United States in 1949, and lived their life with an adopted son, Tom, in Yonkers, New York.  Tom died in 1986 at the age of 68.  She later met and married her second husband, Frank Shipman.  They moved to Melbourne, Florida, and lived in a house in Suntree. They lived a quiet life with a lot of passion for each other.

They travelled around the world throughout their lives but she never forgot her Dutch heritage.  She continued using her Dutch language to communicate with family back home.  She followed the news from Holland and knew what was going on. She loved to see pictures of the flower fields in Holland, visiting Keukenhof in Lisse many times. We remember Aunt Mickey as a loving person who was interested in you and encouraged you to do what you liked to do. Calls to her were enjoyable as she spoke to you in Dutch.  She was happy when you brought her Dutch cheese, Dutch candies and Dutch Chocolate. She had a good life and we are going to miss her. To honor her we close this discourse with two poems of a famous Dutch comedian, Toon Hermans.

You don’t die all at once, but a little bit at a time.  And all the bits that you die, it’s strange, but you forget them.  Often it even escapes you, you say I’m a little tired, then one day you’re on your last bit.

When I came to earth someone brought me.  I did not find the way by myself through that dark night.  And if I will soon go away again to the eternal green valleys, then surely someone will come and get me again.

Her Dutch family, 

Alfred, Michael, Patrick, Sasha and Lilianne

Visitation will take place at Ascension Catholic Church, 2950 N. Harbor City Blvd, Melbourne  on Thursday, January 9, 2025 from 10:00 am until the time of the mass at 11:00 am . Cremation will follow the services at the church.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to: the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, the Space Coast Discovery-Academy for Promising Futures, or the Children’s Hunger Project.