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| John Michael Tipton 1947-2024 with one of his four daughters (Elizabeth Mary) this past summer celebrating his 77th birthday. |
This morning I was informed by his daughter that another one of my favorite cousins has died.
His name was John Michael Tipton. He was only seventy-seven years old.
I did not know he was ill.
John (or "Johnny" as I knew him) was one of the Good Guys. Like my cousin Bud, I never heard Johnny say a bad word about anyone.
With the death of my cousin John Tipton, there are no longer the 'Three John" in our immediate family.
Johnny's father was also a "John" Tipton. He was a paratrooper in World War II. He was captured by the Germans when his unit parachuted into Belgium. His family assumed he died in combat. It wasn't until the end of World War II in 1945 that our family found out he was alive. He was a prisoner of war. He had escaped twice and was recaptured twice. His mother (my grandmother Tipton) died in 1944, thinking that her son John had died in the war. My younger brother John (who died last year) was born in 1944 and named in honor of his Uncle John.
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| My Uncle John Tipton (on the right). Paratropper World War II |
When Uncle John returned home at the end of the war, he married. His first born was a son who he named "John" (of course). Thus we had three "Johns" in our immediate family. How we kept track of them was my brother was always called "John." He never had a nickname like "Jay", "Jack", or any other nickname for "John." My brother was always known as "John." Uncle John of course was always known as "Uncle John." He was perhaps our favorite Tipton Uncle. My father had ten Tipton brothers (no sisters). Uncle John was the favorite of all of us cousins and his brothers. And of course he was the true hero of our family. How ironic that he died in an industrial accident in 1962 when he was only thirty-nine years old. He had a terrible accident. He was a painter at Gindy Trailers (where my father also worked). His turpentine soaked coveralls accidentally caught on fire from a discarded cigarette butt. I was in the Army at that time of his accident. I remember visiting him along with some of my other cousins at the Crozer Burn Center outside Philadephia. He was wrapped up like a mummy in bandages from head to toe. He only survived a few days before he passed on. I, along with my two brothers were some of the pallbearers at his funeral. We were in our Army uniforms. I remember clearly to this day carrying his casket into the Roman Catholic Church (first time ever for us to be in a Catholic Church, quite an experience for us Baptist raised Tiptons, Uncle John had married a woman of Italian and Irish heritage). I was flooded with emotion with the bright sunlight colors streaming through the stained glass windows of St. Joseph's Church in Downingtown, PA and the choir signing High Mass. This was my first funeral.
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| My Aunt Peg (far left sitting front with her mother and nine sisters). Aunt Peg is still alive. She is 95 years old, same age as my Bill. |
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| Tipton brothers (my father is the tall man on the right in the back. Uncle John is the second kneeling man in the middle row on the left next to his fraternal twin brother Richard). This photo taken at a Tipton Family Reunion in Kerr Park, Downingtown PA 1960 two years before his accidental death. |
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| My Uncle John Tipton (in front with his hand in his pocket) with his future wife. The men surrounding my Uncle John Tipton are his brothers Ed (over his should to the left and my cousin Bud Tipton's father), my father Isaac Tipton (tall man in the back directly behind my Aunt Peg), and my Uncle Henry (to my Aunt :eg's right) and my Uncle Erby Tipton (on the far right in front. My Uncle John had ten brothers. No sisters. Interesting fact, my Aunt Peg had ten sisters, no brothers. |
The evening prior to his funeral service I attended his viewing. This was the first time in my life I had ever seen a dead person. I remember so vividly my first thoughts as I looked upon my favorite uncle lying in repose in his coffin on the white satin....."That's not Uncle John. It's just an empty shell." For one thing they had his hair combed wrong. Uncle John always had a part in the middle of his hair. The funeral director had put a part in the right side of his hair. But that wasn't the biggest takeaway I had, it was the realization that when someone dies their soul departs and all that is left is that shell of a body. It might as well have been an overcoat.
I would love to attend my cousin John Tipton's services but it looks like I'll have to pass this one up too like I did my cousin Bud Tipton's service a few weeks ago. And my brother John Tipton's service and my cousin Joan "Sis" Tipton's service as well as several of my classmate's services. Thank God there is live streaming of the services now. I'll watch that.
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| Cousin John Michael Tipton - photo taken by my friend Mark H. at the Tipton Family reunion October 9, 2011 |
This last picture of Cousin John was also taken at the Tipton Family Reunion October 9, 2011. John is pictured with his wife, there of his four daughters, one boyfriend, niece and sister-in-law.
