Roy Herbert Lippert

ROY HERBERT LIPPERT DEC. 19, 1913 - AUG. 23, 2006 Roy Herbert Lippert was born Dec. 19, 1913 in Mt. Vernon, Washington where he attended schools through Junior College. He graduated from Oregon State College, Corvallis, OR in 1936, majoring in Agricultural Engineering and taught there for a year. During his college career he received membership in Alpha Zeta Honor Society, as well as being honored by the California Farm Bureau for his contributions of over 30 years to Vocational Agriculture.

Roy had been married for 69 years to a school teacher, Bernice Burroughs from Idaho, in 1937. A daughter Donna Mae was born in 1942. Son Bert joined the family in 1952. Roy taught 10 years in Rio Vista High School. During that time WWII was in progress. They would not draft Roy because he could and did teach night classes in welding for both men and women. Welders were badly needed in the ship yards, in the Bay Area on Liberty ships.

They moved to Modesto in 1947. He was president of the Modesto Teachers Association. In the summer of 1962 Roy took his family to Haiti to work as volunteers with the American Baptist Missionaries serving there. After selecting a crew of Haitians they did a lot of construction and repair work. They were so eager to learn from Mr. Roy, and to help. They managed to maneuver a large steel tank on top of a concrete tower, with the only tool being some hand made ropes, but good clean water was the result.

The experiences in that poverty stricken land influenced the family members for the rest of their lives. Roy retired at age 56 so he and Bernice could do volunteer mission work. They returned to Haiti 3 more times, the longest, for 5 months. During his retirement and as a volunteer with other volunteers, he built a church for the Kiowa Apache Indians in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, and a Baptist church in Nevada for the Washoe Indians. Working for the benefit of others was a definite trait of Roy Lippert.

He is survived by his wife Bernice Lippert, son in-law David Anderson, son Bert Lippert and his wife Michele and their three sons, Matthew, Nicholas and Jordan. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Donna Mae.

Services will be at 12:00 pm, Friday September 1, 2006 at Trinity United Presbyterian Church, 1600 Carver Rd. in Modesto. Remembrances may be made to MJC AG Emeritus att'n: Scholarships 435 College Ave., Modesto, CA 95350. www.modbee.com/obituaries