Cecil Duane "Gus" Lippert (Myrtle Evelyn Lippert) (Ronald Ervin Lippert)

I found my uncle Duane's obituary in the Hartford Courant dated 17 Feb 1998 stating that he lived at Spice Hill Rd, in East Hampton Connecticut and that he passed away on 15 Feb 1998 at age 71.  He was born 1 May 1926.  He moved to Connecticut in 1987 after working for Otis Elevators for 35 years here in Oregon.  My mother says he was the nicest man, and that's why my name was named after him.  I never met him though. Not that I remember, anyways.

He was born to my great grandmother Myrtle and his California Birth registry lists him as Cecil Duane Sturzenegger, and the 1930 census (3 April 1930, District 34-51, Roy, Washington, Oregon, USA) lists him as Duane Lippert and as a step-son to Ervin Frederick Lippert, husband to Myrtle Evelyn Sturzenegger Lippert having been adopted.

His grave memorial on Findagrave can be found HERE.

I never met Ervin either, but Myrtle was a hoot.  She had a HUGE goldfish named "Glutton" in a bowl that seemed a bit too small for him, they lived at 1216 SE Marion St. in Portland, and she loved her stereo and would crank up the bass on it.  I was mostly little when I was over at her house, but she did go to Canada with me, mom and dad in 1981 and I remember her teaching me how to play cards (cut the deck above the table) and telling me at one point she used to design mazes for a coloring book company (?), and giving me her WWII ration stamps (which I've since lost).  She always wore moccasins it seemed with beads on them that were colored like red and white, she had an old car, a station wagon from the 1960's that had the tail fins on it, it was white or tan, wore the plastic hood to protect her hair like women did back in the day, I remember her bringing me a plastic pink ball once when she came over to our house in Oregon City, as well as cussing out some lady that cut my dad off on our trip to the coast as a family with her that my dad hit with the 1977 Chevy Cheyenne Pickup.  Seems she went more places with us than anyone in my family now that I think about it.  She smoked, usually wore a crucifix, and would laugh and say "me and satan are buds" if anyone commented on something she was doing that was a bit wild or crazy.  I interviewed her for my 1993 high school report to interview someone from another era and she told me what the depression was like.  If I can find it around here maybe I'll add it to this. I remember her telling me about how the kids would fight over a nickle on the ground, how big a deal a chocolate bar was in the depression and how their house payment for the house on Marion street was TEN DOLLARS a month and they scraped EVERY penny they had to keep their house from being taken by the banks.  Ten dollars is 1,000 pennies.  200 nickles. 100 dimes. 40 quarters.  20 half-dollars.  Ten ones.  Two fives (or a five and five ones) or a single ten.  Makes my head spin. Anyways, the last gift I have from her is a blanket she crocheted.  I hate the word crocheted - crotch-et-ed? Crowshayed.  Its actually on the chair behind me. 


While I'm writing about Myrtle whose grave can be found HERE with her husbands HERE , I found an article in the Oregonian about her son, Duane's brother Ronald Ervin Lippert and his death on May 15th 1951. On page 11 of the Oregonian, May 18th, 1951, there is an article that reports that he came home from being out with his friends, and that he came home, reported a stomach ache with his friends, wasn't feeling well, then started moaning at 5:30 in the morning.  His parents, Myrtle and Ervyn called the family doctor, but Ronald was dead by the time the doctor arrived.  The autopsy was inconclusive and toxicology tests were ordered but I haven't been able to locate anything additional on the topic.  The article can be found through this link HERE but you might not be able to access it without a Multnomah County Library Card - it's the Oregonian Archives.