Richard Wise Pippenger
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Richard (Dick) Pippenger passed away on Sunday, September 18, 2022 at his home in Grand Junction Colorado.
Dick was born on July 12, 1935 in Lafayette, IN to Gladys (Wise) and Dr. Wayne G. Pippenger. He grew up in the little farm town of Brook, IN and graduated high school from Culver Military Academy in 1953. He married Katharine C. Girndt on August 10, 1963 in Rapid City, SD in the Knollwood Heights EUB church which Dick helped build. Katharine died on August 18, 2012 after a marriage of 49 years to Dick. After serving in the Army, Dick was employed by the Corps of Engineers overseeing construction of Runways, Titan & Minuteman missile silos in Michigan, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska & Colorado. He then served as the Chief of Maintenance and Fire Chief for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Crow Indiana Reservation in Montana. Later he became the Area Safety Manager for 13 reservations in the Dakotas and Nebraska where he was responsible for training of fire fighters and procurement of fire apparatus in addition to managing the safety program. As a State Fire Service Instructor, he taught at numerous district and State fire schools in South Dakota & New Mexico. In 1971 he was invited to help write training manuals with the International Fire Service Training Association at Oklahoma State University. He served on or chaired 11 manual committees. In 2006 he took emeritus status. Dick served as the Regional Safety Engineer for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Boston, MA, the National Park Service in Santa Fe, NM, the US Bureau of Reclamation in Boise, ID and finished the last 6 years of his federal career in Yellowstone National Park as Fire Chief, Fire Marshal and Asst. Regional Safety Manager for the Park Service. He then served as the Director of the Industrial Hygiene Bureau, State of Indiana OSHA Compliance. Kathy and Dick had already picked Grand Junction as a retirement location where they moved in the fall of 1991. Not content with retirement Dick worked as Technical Program Administrator, Safety and Fire Protection and as a Senior Safety Engineer on the UMTRA project. During his career he was a member of the Crow Agency - Montana, Cole-Collister -Idaho, and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming fire departments. Dick became the Fire Marshal for the Lower Valley Fire District in 1999 and retired June 2022. Dick was very active in Redlands United Methodist Church where he served in various positions.
He is survived by his son Robert W. Pippenger (Diane Itterman) of Brookings, SD and grandchildren, Seth, Faith and Eli Pippenger. Brothers William W. Pippenger (Eleanor) of Salem, OR and Roger L. (Irene) Pippenger of Indianapolis, IN along with many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents and brother C.E. Pippenger.
A memorial service will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, September 24, 2022 at the Redlands United Methodist Church in Grand Junction, CO. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Hospice & Palliative Care of Western Colorado or the James Pulsipher Regional Cancer Center. The service may be watched on the Redlands UMC Grand Junction Colorado YouTube channel.