A Lifetime, A Legacy: Joe Tipping
Joe Tipping served the Seven Mile Beach community in countless ways after his retirement at the dawn of the new millennium. As always, he balanced his labors with fun.
Mr. Tipping, of Avalon, died April 11 at age 84.
Mr. Tipping grew up living on one of the Biddle family estates in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill area. His father, Joseph Tipping, was employed as the estate’s gardener. His mother, Irish immigrant Ellen Conway Tipping from County Mayo, worked domestically at the Biddle residence. In time, the family moved to the nearby Mount Airy neighborhood. As a teen, Mr. Tipping attended the former St. John the Baptist High School in Manayunk.
Family lore tells of how, when Mrs. Ellen Conway Tipping went into labor with her unborn baby Joe, she persevered in completing her task at hand … putting up, or preserving, peaches. This delayed their arrival at the hospital. So when his mother delivered future U.S. Marine Joe Tipping, the delivery-room nurses dubbed the little guy “Peaches.”
Mr. Tipping leaves behind his wife of 56 years, Beth, two of his four siblings, and friends from all over the island. Those who loved him say nothing but good things about the Joe Tipping they knew from his time on the Avalon Borough Council and the Avalon Volunteer Fire Department, or as a member of the American Legion Post 331 in Stone Harbor, the Avalon Lions Club and the Avalon Yacht Club, or as a Knights of Columbus supporter.
Not only that, his friends all cheerfully note Mr. Tipping’s passion for Penn State and Nittany Lions football. For decades, Mr. and Mrs. Tipping occupied parking spot No. 1 in the lot outside Beaver Stadium. On game days, that’s where they parked their “Nittany Jitney,” a 28-foot recreational vehicle featuring a cartoon illustration of a fierce Nittany Lion with football in paw.
There’s even more to this fandom than meets the eye!
Mr. and Mrs. Tipping first met thanks to a bulletin board at Penn State Abington, where they were students. When her car coughed its last breath, Beth posted a note on that campus bulletin board. It read, “Need ride, will pay for gas.” Her future husband responded.
Beth will never forget when her “handsome” ride first pulled up in his creamy yellow Volkswagen convertible, top down, to give her lifts to and from Penn State Abington. Joe wore a white tennis sweater and was smoking a pipe, she reminisces. “I never paid for gas!” Beth adds. In later years her spouse quipped that he “had a financial investment in me” and that marriage was the way to settle it. “Joe had a wonderful sense of humor,” Beth says wistfully.
When they met, Mr. Tipping, 26, had just returned home from his time serving in the U.S. Marines. He trained at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, served in Japan and at U.S. Naval Air Station Glenview in Illinois, where he worked as a radio technician on military aircraft, according to his release papers. Six years his junior, Beth had just graduated from Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia.
The couple completed their degrees on Penn State’s main campus in Happy Valley and married on Aug. 28, 1965. Each immediately went to work, delaying their honeymoon to San Francisco until a later date when they could afford it.
Over time, Mr. Tipping worked for the Westinghouse Electric Company (now White-Westinghouse), and for Waste Management. He spent his career managing human resources or contract negotiations. Beth worked as a high school reading specialist until her retirement.
Kimberly Mastriana, family friend and administrative assistant for the Avalon administrator, first met Mr. Tipping during one of his daily stops to pick up mail at the Municipal Building when he served on the Avalon Borough Council. Mr. Tipping was initially appointed to fill a council vacancy in 2004. He then served from 2005 through 2013 as an elected official on the Borough Council, twice as the council’s president.
Mastriana recalls working with Mr. Tipping on a project that streamlined the process of receiving beach vehicle permits allowing vehicles on the beach from September through March. “It was refreshing to have a councilperson who listened and took action,” Mastriana notes. “Joe was a good listener, a good storyteller and a good friend.”
When he left elected office in 2013, Mr. Tipping negotiated garbage collection and recycling contracts that saved the taxpayers a bundle; played a key role in the creation of the 15th Street trash and recycling center at the Avalon Department of Public Works; and helped to make the Avalon Emergency Pet Evacuation Trailer a reality. Moreover, the Avalon Green Master Plan was formally adopted and jitney transportation service was introduced during Mr. Tipping’s Borough Council presidency.
In and around the same time, the councilman also served as a volunteer for the Avalon Fire Department. Mr. Tipping assisted as a leader of the fire police. Fire police manage crowd and traffic control on fire calls, department Chief Ed Dean explains. Fire calls include rescues, alarms going off or fires, he says.
“Joe was especially good with the public on fire calls,” Dean notes. “He offered solutions to drivers” who were caught in fire-call traffic jams. “Joe treated everyone with dignity,” everyone including rookie firefighters, rescue workers and police officers.
Mr. Tipping rarely missed training drills or meetings, says the chief. “Joe had an excellent grasp on what needed to be done” in an emergency, Dean adds. “I attribute that to his military training as a Marine. He was a very dedicated and precise person.”
On top of all that, “Joe was one of the most fun guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” Dean says before reminiscing about Joe and Beth Tipping’s annual summertime toga party that they hosted upstairs at the Rock’n Chair.
Avalon Rescue Squad Coordinator Kevin Scarpa describes Mr. Tipping as “a great guy,” and “a man of the people” who knew how to settle controversies and bring people together. “Joe was definitely a mentor,” he adds. Mr. Tipping served with the fire police from 2004 through 2014 and left due to health reasons, Scarpa notes. Until then, “Joe was like an ox” in terms of strength, declares the rescue squad coordinator.
Mr. Tipping was a regular at the gym and an avid daily runner. During his running days, he completed a 26-mile U.S. Marine Corps Marathon in Washington in 4 hours, 9.37 minutes.
The Avalon Historical Society’s Mike Quinn notes Mr. Tipping's fully engaged membership in the Knights of Columbus Madonna Maria Council headquartered at St. Joseph Church in Sea Isle City, as well as the Tippings’ membership at the Avalon Yacht Club.
“Joe was a congenial person,” Quinn says. His wife Cass Quinn describes Mr. Tipping as “an ultimate gentleman who always stood up when a lady came to the table.”
Beth remembers Joe’s role in organizing a bocce tournament in Avalon to raise money for the Knights of Columbus, his role in forming the Avalon Lions Club, and his efforts to set up distribution of bananas and oranges at the Tim Kerr 7 Mile Island Run. Local SuperFresh and Acme supermarkets generously supplied the fruit for the races, Beth says. Her husband saw to it that leftover oranges and bananas went to the Cape May County Zoo, she adds.
“Joe was a veteran who still served his community,” says Commander Tom McCullough of American Legion Post 331. “He supported his country and his post to the utmost.”
The commander adds: “Mr. Tipping was also grateful to the United States for making his education at Penn State possible, courtesy of the G.I. Bill.”
“I’m not sure what Joe loved more, the U.S. Marines or Penn State,” McCullough says. Mr. Tipping always flew three flags – the U.S. flag, the U.S. Marine flag and the Penn State flag – outside of his home on his flagstaff, he recollects.
“Joe was a good man and a dedicated American,” the commander concludes.
