JW Waters Tippetts

JW (Joyce Waters) Tippetts 1920 – 2011

Our father left his Utah roots and lived most of his life in California where he was a campus planner at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. He spent two years as Director of Campus Development at BYU during a building boom that found his influence in Helaman Halls, the Harris Fine Arts Center and the library. He was involved in the beginning stages of UCSD as head of the Office of Architects and Engineers and played a crucial role in its award winning design. JW, or Tip as his friends called him, was born in Hinckley, Utah on May 25, 1920 to Alfred Irvin (AI) and Eda Cropper Tippetts. His early years were spent in rural Utah towns surrounded by brothers (Twain and Stan) and cousins, with Pony May to ride to school. His father was a well-respected professor at Snow College for decades. During WW II JW served in the Navy as Captain of a minesweeper in Boston Harbor and the Aleutian Islands. At home in Ephraim after the war he played in a dance band where he met and later married the pianist, Jean Hulme of Manti. They moved to Berkeley where he pursued a Masters degree in Music. Classical music was always his passion–he played violin and was president of the La Jolla Civic Orchestra. We went to sleep every night to the sound of his music at highest volume. In his retired years he loved to craft stringed instrumentshis great-granddaughter Gwen plays a violin he made. He never once complained about growing olderwe all remember his smiles and twinkling eyes. His children Leah (AJ) Smith, Laura (David) Harmon, Tom (Lisa) and Tracy (Elizabeth) Tippetts all were inspired by his strong emphasis on education, his political views, and his humanitarian heart. He has 15 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren. Thank you, Veterans Nursing Home. A family tribute will be held Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12 noon in the Provo Oak Hills Stake Center, 925 North Temple Drive, Provo. Burial at Ephraim City Cemetery. Services under the direction of Russon Brothers Salt Lake Mortuary and online guestbook available at www.russonmortuary.com.