HENRY WILLIAM (HANK) KIPP obituary

Henry William "Hank" Kipp died June 29, 2009, in Olympia, Wash.

Hank was born Dec. 14, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pa., to Dr. Harold A. Kipp, (a pioneering thoracic surge on) and Margar i t a Boettger Kipp. He is survived by his wife, Elaine J. (Maki) Kipp of Olympia; thei r chi ldren, Thomas Kipp and Laurie Kipp (Haili), both of Seattle; his sister, Catherine Devereux, of Louisville, Colo .; three nieces, Lisa (Ed) Karns, Karen Strawn (husband Daniel, daughter Astrea), and Juliana Hagel (children Nicole, Christopher and Sheila); and five nephews, Peter (Yeo Ok)Kipp, David (Paulissa) Kipp, Matt Kipp, George (Juliet) Kipp, and William Kipp. Hank was preceded in death by his parents, Harold, on June 12, 1964, and Margarita, Feb. 2.1995, and by his brother Harold S. "Dick" Kipp on May 5, 2005. He was educated at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Class of 1949; Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., with a bachelor's degree in history in 1954; the University of Idaho in Moscow with a bachelor's degree in forestry; and the University of Montana with a master's degree in natural resources management in 1972. Working on summer trail crews in Glacier National Park (1950-51) sparked a passionate interest in pursuing forestry as his profession. Hank began formal study at Duke University in Durham, N.C., (1956-58) and received his degree from Idaho in 1960. He completed additional studies in range management there during 1961-62, at which time he met Elaine, then working as a librarian at the University of Idaho. They were married June 22, 1962, in her hometown of Aurora, Minn. Following a honeymoon trip to Banff, Alberta, he began a 32-year professional forestry career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Mont. Further assignments took t h em t o t h e Fl a t h e a d Reservation in Dixon, Mont., 1963-68, and to the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, Box Elder, Mont., 1968-71. Fo l l owi n g a ye a r i n Missoula,Hank returned to Rocky Boy as the tribe's natural resources specialist, with the family relocating to Havre, where Tom and Laurie eventually completed high school. In May 1983 Hank was transferred to the Ji car i l la Apache Reservation in Dulce, N.M., and in November 1985 he was promoted to his final assignment, at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. Hank and Elaine retired to Olympia, Wash., in October 1994, where Hank took immense pleasure in developing a fullfledged “arboretum” on their half-acre property, while also serving as secretary for the local chapter of the Society of American Foresters, an organization to which he belonged for 49 years, joining as an undergraduate in 1960. He was proud to be a “certified forester” who could thereby do consulting work, a status he maintained to the end of his life. He was also an accomplished artist, particularly with pen and ink and oil paints, and an avid musician who played acoustic guitar and boogie woogie piano. Hank was renowned throughout his life for the ability to make friends of every age and description, his punning wit, his boundless energy for written correspondence, and for nurturing a dazzling variety of plants and trees, which invariably transformed every place where he resided. Hank was warmly loved and widely admired by friends and family, and will be sorely missed by all who knew him. He was a good, kind, caring man every day of his life, and we already miss having his positive influence and gracious enthusiasm in our lives. He truly lived his Christian beliefs, doing good for others and being a cheerful servant.