- Date Of Birth: September 24, 1951
- Date Of Death: June 22, 2014
- State: Alabama
Jack Tipton (a.k.a. Dad, Daddy, Baw-Baw, Poppie, Pops) left this mortal coil on June 22. He was married to his best friend, Judy, for over 40 years. He was also key in the creation of two wonderful people, his children, Julie and Jason. Those two created two even more fantastic people, Jake, 6 and Abbey, 3. He is also survived by his mother Birdie (a.k.a.”Mamaw”), his big sisters Margie (Ron) and Pat (Ernie), his baby brother Michael (Tricia), his sisters in law Winona (Billy) and Arnelle (Earl) as well as many nieces and nephews and their children. Sadly he had to mourn the death of his beloved father, Marvin, who also left for Heaven sooner than we were ready for it. The same goes for his much loved in laws, Arnold and Mildred Parrish of Florence.
Jack was a family man who loved and provided for his family while spoiling them rotten. “No” was not apart of his vocabulary. He was a loyal friend and ally and was an old fashioned country boy: what you saw was what you got. He was a devoted fan of the Crimson Tide and was by no means a fair weather fan. His favorite pass time was sitting on the front porch watching the world go by. Jack was never in any hurry; if you looked up Sunday driver in the dictionary you would find his picture. Oh yeah, and he liked those grand kids, too.
Jack saw some action in Vietnam at age 18 and lived to tell his tales. He quickly climbed the ranks and because of his tender age he became known as “Baby Sarge” in his platoon. His hero was a young Lieutenant named James Firkus who saved Jack’s life but did not make it back himself and whose name has been added to The Wall. Jack came home from the jungle only to decide the Army was just right for him and ended up serving several more years in places like Italy and Germany. He had interesting sounding jobs like “Combat Engineer” and “Hercules Missile Crewman”. He earned many commendations such as the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry With Palm, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Overseas Service Bars, and many Army Commendation Medals.
Jack’s legacy is in the eyes of those beautiful grandchildren of his. He bored all those not related to him with his grand tells of their tiny accomplishments.
We miss you, Dad
