lit a candle 6d agoMy grandma sent me this obituary from The Punxsutawney Spirit and I just sat with it for a minute. Sixty six years married, and she followed him two months later. That kind of thing stays with you.
Their story
Evelyn Ann Chiplis was a private citizen of Rochester Mills, Pennsylvania, whose life and death were made known to the public through a local newspaper obituary rather than through fame or public office. She was not a celebrity, politician or public figure in the conventional sense, and the record of…
Evelyn Ann Chiplis was a private citizen of Rochester Mills, Pennsylvania, whose life and death were made known to the public through a local newspaper obituary rather than through fame or public office. She was not a celebrity, politician or public figure in the conventional sense, and the record of her life available to the public is limited to the details her family chose to share.
She was born in Painesville, Ohio, on February 26 or 27, 1940 (her two published obituaries give slightly different dates), the daughter of Daniel James Hill and Evelyn Rose (Long) Hill. On June 6, 1960, she married Elbert "Chip" Hubert Chiplis, and the couple went on to share sixty six years of marriage. They raised four children together, William "Bill" Chiplis, Charles "Chuck" Chiplis Sr., Evelyn "Ann" Valeski and Victoria Barnett, and the family grew to include twelve grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.
According to her obituary, she spent her later years enjoying simple, domestic pleasures: she liked flowers, gardening, crossword puzzles and visits to the slot machines. These small, specific details are, for now, the fullest public picture of her personal character and daily life. No public record describes a career, public office, creative work or other achievement that would place her in the historical record beyond her family and community.
Evelyn Ann Chiplis died at home in Rochester Mills on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at the age of 86. Her husband, Elbert, had died a little over two months earlier, on August 6, 2026, after the couple had marked more than six and a half decades together. No cause of death has been made public for either of them. Her death was announced through an obituary published by Shumaker Funeral Home of Punxsutawney and carried by The Punxsutawney Spirit.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Elbert, four brothers (James, John Thomas, William and Roy Medsger) and two sisters (Susan and Catherine). There will be no public visitation. Her ashes are to be laid to rest beside her husband's at Fry Cemetery. As with most private individuals who appear in the news only through a hometown obituary, there has been no wider public reaction, tribute or commentary beyond the notice itself.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy | Obituary.
My grandparents were the same way, three months apart after fifty eight years.