Ruth Marionelle Trippe, born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, slipped peacefully from this world on January 13th, 2026. She was 93 years old.
Known as "Teeny" to many family members and friends, she was the daughter of James Marion and Nellie Ruth Taylor, who had moved to Jacksonville from the hinterlands of South Carolina and Georgia. Although they lived humbly and had little in the way of material comforts, they made a loving home on the city's North Shore and raised Ruth and her two sisters, June and Helen, in the Methodist church there. James (fondly called "Mern"), a quiet and profoundly ethical man, was a master mechanic, and Nellie, a skilled seamstress, made most of the family's clothes on her old treadle-driven Singer sewing machine.
Ruth was an excellent student at Andrew Jackson High School, where she made many friends. She loved being out of doors and relished the occasional ride out to Neptune Beach with school pals. She loved playing the piano, drawing and writing, and singing in the church choir. Her favorite hymn throughout her life was "How Great Thou Art."
She met and married Harry Lee Trippe in 1952. Harry had left school early on to help support his own family, and his determination eventually prevailed: he started his own plumbing-supply contracting business in the early sixties. Ruth worked as his assistant for several years, and the two of them strove and sacrificed in order to create opportunities for their three sons, Harry Michael, James Lee, and Jeffrey Clarence.
After her husband's death in 2008, Ruth moved with her son Jim and her son-in-law, Craig Burnett (with whom she developed a close bond) to Dawsonville, Georgia, where she continued to pursue her interest in various arts and crafts - sewing, painting, scrapbooking, writing poetry - and she also played the organ in her church there. She loved her back porch, and she was always proud to note that she was still mowing the lawn even in her eighties. Ruth continued to make new friends and to keep up with old ones, and she was often in touch with her many nieces and nephews as well as her daughter-in-law, Laura Henry Trippe. With Jim and Craig, she later moved to Parker's Lake, Kentucky, and then to South Charleston, West Virginia, and even though hampered by ill health brought on by a series of strokes, she remained a lively storyteller and a wise counselor.
She took great pleasure in the simplest of beauties, and her joy and creativity live on in her children, Jimmy and Jeff, and in her grandchildren, Philip Harry Trippe And Alexandra Stockton Trippe. She was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Harry Lee, sisters June Krauss and Helen Stowers, and son Harry Michael.
Ruth's family will honor her request that there be no funeral service. Her ashes will be interred beside Harry's in Oaklawn Cemetery in Jacksonville. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your local Humane Society or other animal protection agency.
Known as "Teeny" to many family members and friends, she was the daughter of James Marion and Nellie Ruth Taylor, who had moved to Jacksonville from the hinterlands of South Carolina and Georgia. Although they lived humbly and had little in the way of material comforts, they made a loving home on the city's North Shore and raised Ruth and her two sisters, June and Helen, in the Methodist church there. James (fondly called "Mern"), a quiet and profoundly ethical man, was a master mechanic, and Nellie, a skilled seamstress, made most of the family's clothes on her old treadle-driven Singer sewing machine.
Ruth was an excellent student at Andrew Jackson High School, where she made many friends. She loved being out of doors and relished the occasional ride out to Neptune Beach with school pals. She loved playing the piano, drawing and writing, and singing in the church choir. Her favorite hymn throughout her life was "How Great Thou Art."
She met and married Harry Lee Trippe in 1952. Harry had left school early on to help support his own family, and his determination eventually prevailed: he started his own plumbing-supply contracting business in the early sixties. Ruth worked as his assistant for several years, and the two of them strove and sacrificed in order to create opportunities for their three sons, Harry Michael, James Lee, and Jeffrey Clarence.
After her husband's death in 2008, Ruth moved with her son Jim and her son-in-law, Craig Burnett (with whom she developed a close bond) to Dawsonville, Georgia, where she continued to pursue her interest in various arts and crafts - sewing, painting, scrapbooking, writing poetry - and she also played the organ in her church there. She loved her back porch, and she was always proud to note that she was still mowing the lawn even in her eighties. Ruth continued to make new friends and to keep up with old ones, and she was often in touch with her many nieces and nephews as well as her daughter-in-law, Laura Henry Trippe. With Jim and Craig, she later moved to Parker's Lake, Kentucky, and then to South Charleston, West Virginia, and even though hampered by ill health brought on by a series of strokes, she remained a lively storyteller and a wise counselor.
She took great pleasure in the simplest of beauties, and her joy and creativity live on in her children, Jimmy and Jeff, and in her grandchildren, Philip Harry Trippe And Alexandra Stockton Trippe. She was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Harry Lee, sisters June Krauss and Helen Stowers, and son Harry Michael.
Ruth's family will honor her request that there be no funeral service. Her ashes will be interred beside Harry's in Oaklawn Cemetery in Jacksonville. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your local Humane Society or other animal protection agency.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Ruth Marionelle Trippe, please visit our flower store.
Ruth Marionelle Trippe's Guestbook
Visits: 73
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors