Page 36 - 2021-12 Courier FlipBook

Dick Tipton completed his first two years of college before joining the Na-
vy in 1966. He spent two years on active duty and went back to school in
1969, after returning home from Vietnam. He completed his Bachelor of
Arts Degree in Economics and was chosen by the University to spend a
month in the Soviet Union, Poland and Hungary, writing a paper on
“Comparative Economic
Systems”. He completed his
academic studies with a
Master’s Degree in Business Administration.
In 1978 Dick was on an airplane in route to Switzerland. A few rows back from him a pretty
brunette was sitting on an aisle seat and, since Dick had an empty seat next to him, he invited
her to join him for “the movies”. Lorry was traveling with her father and two sisters and Dick
managed to spend as much time with her as possible. They were married six months later.
On their second date, back in Southern California, Lorry’s ten-year-old daughter threw a pa-
per airplane at Dick. When he unfolded it, she had written inside, “Dick, ask my mom to mar-
ry you.” That was 43 years ago and Dick and Lorry have been together ever since. Between
them they have four children, nine grandchildren and four Great Grand Children. They still
enjoy travel, going to the movies and drinking fine wine.
For their honeymoon, Dick and Lorry went to Portugal. On the way home to Southern Cali-
fornia, they were almost half way across the Atlantic when Lorry looked out the window and
said, “one of our engines is on fire.” Dick looked out the window and sure enough, flames
were engulfing one of the port side engines. The captain came on the intercom and casually
said they were returning to Lisbon due to “technical difficulties.” Foam trucks were waiting
for them at the Lisbon airport. The airline rented the top floor of a local hotel while waiting
for a replacement aircraft. It was Halloween night and the emotionally exhausted passengers made ghost costumes out of their bedsheets
and went door to door for “Trick or Drink.”
During Dick’s career, he was the Senior Vice Presi-
dent of two multi-national corporations. As such,
he and Lorry had an opportunity to travel the world,
visiting 47 countries, some more than once. In
1999, on a three-man team to sell the Thermador
Corporation, Dick travelled to Germany nine times
in the same year and was able to bring Lorry along
twice.
Lorry owned and operated a Hallmark Store in
Cameron Park, which she closed in 2008, shortly
before Dick Retired. With a son, daughter-in-law
and granddaughter living in Florence Italy, they still
travel as often as possible, linking tourist travel to
family visits. COVID put a stop to that, at least for
now.
Dick and Lorry moved to The Club at Westpark in
2014 and she has kept busy with Bunco, Bocce and
work in a philanthropic organization. Dick’s hob-
bies include golf and creative writing. He has writ-
ten four fictional novels, the last of which was pub-
lished in 2020 and was based in part on his experi-
ences in Vietnam.

December 2021 Page 36