Everyday Ministry shines the spotlight on those who try to stay out of it. They’re the ones who stay in the background, quietly doing the small things that make life better for others. They’re all around you. To nominate someone for an Everyday Ministry feature, please send information to editor@spiritofabilene.com. Include the name of the person being nominated, contact info, and the reason for the nomination. Include a photo if you have one.

By Loretta Fulton

Remarkably, Anne Tippens is able to continue her ministry of creating cards, many of them three-dimensional pop-up creations, despite painful debilitating medical issues.

“It’s her quiet ministry by mail,” her husband, Darryl, said. “These paper gifts with messages of blessing are her way of surviving the pain.”

From her home workshop, Anne’s imagination runs wild, despite chronic pain from several compressed nerves in her neck that are causing increasing numbness in her dominant right hand and arm. As long as she is able, she will continue to create cards like the one she recently sent to to Rosemary Suttle, who along with her husband, Steve, are fellow members with the Tippens of the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest. Both Rosemary and Steve have been recipients of Anne’s cards. 

“Each card is different; intricately and delicately made. Receiving one of her cards truly connects you with her,” Rosemary said. “Anne’s cards are love that you can hold in your hands. It is a gift to receive her gift.”

Anne and Darryl Tippens

Anne recently created a card that is actually a working, three-dimensional paper clock. She sent it to a longtime friend in California who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

Growing up in Oklahoma City, Anne got introduced to art and to doing good works for others. Her father was a minister, and her parents emphasized random acts of kindness.

“I felt an urgent need to show concern to others,” she said. 

A natural artist, Anne took art classes in high school and took a painting class through the Oklahoma Art Center, which was located on the state fairgrounds. 

Anne with her creations

She also was a member of the Sooner Scribes, a calligraphy guild. She learned much about art from that class, including color, balance, and perspective. That interest and training also led to some calligraphy jobs later in life. 

One of her father’s brothers was an artist in Dallas who focused on oil painting. Her connection to doing good works for others goes back even further. Anne’s mother was the granddaughter of a well-known missionary in the Churches of Christ, serving in Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world. Anne’s grandmother, the daughter of the missionary, taught German in an academy in Cordell, Oklahoma. Because of teaching German and writing letters to non-combatants who were serving time at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, “she became an interesting figure in the FBI records.” Despite that, Anne’s grandmother wrote letters to missionaries all over the world and often sent gifts. 

With that background in art and reaching out to others, Anne was destined to use her artwork for good. She remembered that when their boys were growing up, she and Darryl encouraged them to help with creating meaningful cards and letters to send as words of encouragement or appreciation. 

“From there, I went on to designing and making my own cards,” Anne said.

Her artwork extends to other forms, including quilting, machine embroidery, jewelry making, leatherwork, shrink film art, resin creations, sewing, bookmaking, papermaking, watercolor, oil painting, crepe paper flower making, and any other art form that exists.

Left to right a “Thinking of You” card, Enjoying Life artwork, Anne with her Cricut machine she uses to cut paper

Despite Anne’s chronic pain, she often works late into the night creating magic in a back room. She says her drive to create is her therapy. She is so motivated to create something meaningful for another person that her work serves as a distraction from the pain. 

Anne has found a ministry through her artwork that was influenced by her parents. She is concerned that her medical issues may cause her to stop doing what she loves. But until that day comes, she will continue.

“There are other things I’ve done in my life,” she said, “but this area of reaching out through the combination af art and words is something I pursue with excitement and joy. It fulfills me and gives my life meaning.”

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene.