Joseph Gilbert Lippard, 98, a longtime resident and businessman of Cleveland, and recently of Wilsons, Va., died Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012, at his home.
He was born July 10, 1914, in Statesville, N.C., to the late Florence Troutman Lippard and Jesse Monroe Lippard.
He was raised as a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Troutman, N.C.
He was the last survivor of the 11 children of the family.
For 65 years, he was married to Blanche Broadrick Lippard, who died June 16, 2004.
He is survived by his three children and spouses: Lynda L. and John Cock of Greensboro, N.C, Diane L. and Richard Galbreath of Wilsons, and Hal and Cathy Lippard of Charlottesville, Va.; He was the proud grandfather to eight grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren; and beloved “Uncle Joe” to numerous nieces and nephews. His memory will also be cherished by surviving in-laws: Lois Lippard of Cleveland, Lawson (Kay) Broadrick of Atlanta, and Ray (Pat) Broadrick of Dalton, Ga.
He was educated in the schools of Iredell County, N.C., graduating in 1933 during the Great Depression. He obtained an ROTC scholarship to Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia, Ark., where he worked and studied for two years.
He returned home to help with the family farm. He began his career with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. He was assigned to open up the territory in Tennessee and Alabama, where he met his future wife, Blanche. They married and began a family in Huntsville and Guntersville, Ala.
In 1944, he was transferred to Cleveland, where the family resided for 60 years until the death of his wife. He then moved to Virginia to be closer to his children.
At the end of World War II, he joined his brother, Robert V. Lippard, in the butane-propane heating business in Cleveland which was beginning to replace coal. His younger brother, H.A. (Gus) Lippard, later joined them in the business.
In 1952 Lippard sold his interest in Lippard Butane-Propane and joined Sinclair Refining Co. as a marketer of Sinclair gasoline and lube products. After building the business and three successful service stations, the business was incorporated as Lippard Oil Co., serving homes, churches, businesses and farm accounts of Polk, Hamilton, and Bradley counties until his 1985 retirement after 40 years in the L-P gas and petroleum products business.
He was a longtime member of the Cleveland Kiwanis Club, serving as club secretary and president. He was a proud Scout leader.
He was active at First United Methodist Church in Cleveland, where he taught in the youth department and served on the administrative board as well as on the building and grounds committee during the building program for the new church on North Ocoee Street.
He served as a volunteer in missions to Jamaica, where he helped lead a construction team to build a girls’ dormitory for a mission school.
He was a longtime member of the Live Wire Men’s Bible Class and was a teacher of the class for about 10 years into his 80s. He was awarded a life membership in the Methodist Men, where he worked diligently to help raise funds for mission projects.
In his retirement he and his wife, Blanche, enjoyed travel to Europe, Alaska and the Caribbean, in addition to visiting their growing families and grandchildren.
He was a general handyman at the various inner city locations where Lynda and John served in the USA.
After his move to Virginia at age 90, he joined the Grace United Methodist Church in Wilsons, Va., where he supported the children, youth and mission work, working alongside of Diane and Dick with a very successful heifer project, a Habitat For Humanity home, and helping build a large play lot at the church.
He continued raising a garden and canning the harvest until 2011.
Many people enjoyed the creativity of his workshop until his eyesight began to fail.
His generosity and care also extended to prison ministry, Native American causes, the Smile Train, charitable dental work of his son Hal; an animal rescue service, Forgotten Paws, founded by one of his granddaughters; and the educational work of the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs, where his daughter Lynda and her husband served for many years and where Hal, Diane and Dick participated in the work of service to struggling villages and communities.
A service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance will be held at Grace United Methodist Church in Wilsons on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, at 1 p.m.
The family will receive visitors from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the church before the service.
Interment will follow in the church cemetery.
To honor his memory, the family requests memorial gifts be made to the Lippard Scholarship Fund at First United Methodist Church, North Ocoee Street, Cleveland TN 37312, where he was a member for 60 years; Grace United Methodist Church in Wilsons, where has resided since his widowhood in 2004; the Troutman Historical Association in Troutman, N.C., where his family has celebrated 108 continuous family reunions; to support the work of the Ecumenical Institute/Institute of Cultural Affairs in Chicago, or a charity of your choice.
Funeral arrangements are being coordinated by Joseph McMillian Funeral Home, Blackstone, VA. Please visit www.mcmillianfuneralhome.com.
