Gilbert Perry Tupper

GIL TUPPER was born on May 24, 1928 in Madison South Dakota. He was the 4th of 6 children raised on a farm during the depression. He attended South Dakota State University from 1945 – 1949 graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering, and earned his Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1962. He met Mary Lue Wiese at a church party while taking a summer course between his junior and senior years of college. Mary Lue was from Seattle but was staying with family in Madison while also taking a 12-week summer course. They were married on August 25, 1950. Gil took a series of jobs that kept them moving for several years before landing a position with Westinghouse Electric Corporation in August of 1957. He spent his entire career at Westinghouse, working in marketing and sales of power generation equipment until his retirement in 1988. During his career he and Mary Lue traveled extensively and lived in Oregon, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Mexico City and Saudi Arabia. After retirement he continued to work and travel internationally for another 10 years, working for the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the International Executive Service Corps, after which he truly retired. He was active in the Methodist Church throughout his life taking leadership roles wherever he was living. Since the late 1960’s he has been a devoted member of the Lima United Methodist Church where he was active in the Methodist Men and created the Lima Endowment Fund to help ensure the financial security of the church for the future. He was an active and committed member of Rotary International and successfully grew the membership of the Concordville Rotary club significantly during his time as membership chair. His passions were his love of family and of travel. He was an avid RV’er and he and Mary Lue traveled all over the country towing their home on wheels. He was never happier than when boarding an airplane to some exotic destination or loading up the trailer to travel somewhere, anywhere.  Gil and Mary Lue have been blessed with four children, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. Gil is survived by his beloved wife of almost 70 years, Mary Lue (Wiese) Tupper, son Lawrence (Mary) Tupper, and daughters Susan (Richard) Baseman and Beverly (James) Lee, daughter-in-law Nancy Tupper, brother Richard (Jackie) Tupper, grandchildren Heather (Jason) Costomiris, Gary Tupper, Kristin (Jordan) Benbow, Michelle Tupper Kaufman, Lisa Tupper, Zachary Baseman, Andrew (Breanna) Lee, Benjamin Baseman, Anna Lee, Emily Tupper, and Daniel Tupper, and great-grandchildren Alexander Costomiris, Elizabeth Costomiris, Sebastian O’Neal and Perrin Benbow, as well as step-granddaughter Melanie (Josh) Smith and their sons, Evan and Noah, and numerous nieces, nephews, in-laws, cousins and other family. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elsie and Bert Tupper, brothers Duane and Donald Tupper, and sisters Jeanne Auwarter and Muriel Simmons, and by his oldest son Gary Dean Tupper.  Relatives and friend are invited to his Funeral Service on Thursday, January 16th, 2020 at 11:30 AM at the Lima United Methodist Church, 209 N. Middletown Rd, Media, PA.  The family will be greeting everyone following the service in the fellowship hall. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in memory of Gilbert to be made to either the Endowment Fund of Lima United Methodist Church, or to the Concordville Rotary Club.   (www.BradleyStow.com)

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