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Thomas C. Kipps Fresno, CA QCWA # 6717 Chapter 213 |
Thomas C. Kipps, KA6Z, passed away March 10, 2014. This was in the Fresno Bee on March 16, 2014.
Thomas Charles Kipps was born on February 28, 1923, in Eureka City, Utah, the oldest of five children, to Winifred and Albert Edward Kipps. He died on Monday, March 10, 2014, at his home, surrounded by family.
He served in the United States Army's Signal Corps during WWII in Northern France and the Rhineland. An enlisted man for eleven months, he was then commissioned to Cryptographic Officer. He was discharged in November 1946 as First Lieutenant.
He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a BA, MA, and PhD in Mathematics. While at UC Berkeley, he met his future wife, Anne Lorraine. They were married in 1948 and settled in Fresno in 1956.
Tom became Professor of Mathematics at California State University, Fresno, where he taught for 36 years until his retirement in 1992.
He cultivated a lifelong interest in computers and programming languages, and is credited for bringing computers to "Fresno State" in the 1960s, and for creating the Computer Center on campus back when students ran FORTRAN programs on mainframe computers using punched cards.
Tom and Anne reared four children and hosted many foreign exchange students. They instilled in their children a love of life and learning, reflected in the Kipps family motto, "Have fun and learn lots." Pop was a loving father, brilliant, funny, kind, honest, the best. He took great pride in his children and grandchildren.
Tom was a devout Roman Catholic, member of the St. Paul Newman Center parish since its creation 50 years ago, and Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus. He and Anne made pilgrimages to Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, Garabandal, and the Holy Land.
He was a ham radio operator for over 75 years, operating under the extra class license of KA6Z, and was a life member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association, a charter member of Chapter 213, and a Member of the Fresno Amateur Radio Club. He was also active in the Boy Scouts of America and, as Scout Master of Troop 88, led his troop on 50-mile hikes across the High Sierra.
His spirit and sense of humor, especially his fondness for punning, did not yield to the effects of Parkinson's disease, which worsened steadily.
73,
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Charles W6DPD
S/T
QCWA Fresno Chapter 213