Harold Copeland Ripley ’29
Jan - Feb 2012
Harold Copeland Ripley ’29 died at Kendal in Hanover on September 24, 2011. He was born in South Easton, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1907, and graduated from Brockton (Massachusetts) High School, where for four years he ran track and was manager of football. “Rip” was treasurer for three years. He graduated from Dartmouth, where he majored in English, had a record in track and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Round Table. After college he worked for New England Telephone Company for 13 years in the Boston area. During WW II his military service was deferred due to secret government service. He married Frances Drake in 1935, and they had three children, of whom two survive him along with two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was president of Reliable Electric Co. in Chicago and also Whitney Blake Co. in New Haven, Connecticut, while living in Wayne, Illinois, where he was active in town affairs. After retirement the family moved full time to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where they had spent summers enjoying sailing his 43-foot yawl. After his wife died in 1989 he married Mary Lougee of Hanover in 1993; she survives him along with her four children, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Throughout his life Rip was a loyal son of Dartmouth, serving the College and holding a myriad of offices for which he was honored with the Dartmouth Alumni Award. As during his long life, his thoughts and generosity were for others, and in that spirit he donated his body for medical research. There will be a memorial service held at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth at a later date.