I am sad to announce that Mr. Thomas Richard Tippeconnic passed away on April 7, 1997 at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona. He was an Assistant Area Director for the Navajo Area Office, before retiring from the Bureau of Indian Affairs after 35 years of service. He spent most of his adult life working on the Navajo reservation.
He was born on February 10, 1937 in Phoenix, Arizona and was a member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma. Mr. Tippeconnic earned a bachelors degree in Range Management from Oklahoma State University.
Mr. Tippeconnic is survived by his wife Alberta, two sons, Jon and Jay, a daughter-in-law, Lisa and three grandchildren, Thomas, Troy, and Tristan. He is also survived by a sister, Mary Jo Fox and four brothers, Norman, John, Robert, and David. He was preceded in death by his father and mother John and Juanita Tippeconnic and a sister Joan Marie.
"Mr. Tippeconnic will be greatly missed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a whole, but in particular by the Navajo Area Office," Ms. Deer said. "Tom always gave his best effort and was a dedicated employee. He will leave a long legacy of beneficial programs and opportunities for the Navajo people."
Mr. Tippeconnic will be laid to rest in the grasslands of the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. Memorial services will be held in Cache, Oklahoma at the Deyo Comanche Church at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 11, 1997 and the Fort Defiance Presbyterian Church, Fort Defiance, Arizona, on Monday April 14, 1997 at 10:30 a.m. The family requests that in place of flowers donations be made to the John W. Tippeconnic Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.
