David Henlen Tripp

Tripp, David Henlen, 94, retired accountant, passed away, Monday, May 11, 2009. Visitation with the family will be 6:00-8:00 P.M., Friday, May 15; viewing of Mr. Tripp will be available from 8:00 A.M. until service time at 11:00 A.M., Saturday, May 16, all at Downing Lahey Mortuary East. Interment 3:00 P.M., Saturday, Sunset Hill Cemetery, Herington, KS. David was born in Topeka, KS, on November 15, 1914. He was the oldest of four children born to Raymond G. Tripp (1883-1954) and Florence Henlen Tripp (1884-1975). His sister, Margaret, died in September 1919 and his brother, Raymond died in May 1977. He is survived by his wife, Maxine, sister, Elizabeth Jewell of Galveston, TX, four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. David was raised in Herington, KS. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church in Herington at age 12. As a young boy he spent several summers near Kent, IA, on the farm of a great uncle. He was active in the Boy Scouts, attaining the Eagle Scout rank at an early age. He graduated from Herington High School in 1932. David attended the University of Kansas and graduated from its School of Business in 1937, having spent a year as a junior accountant in the office of the State of Kansas Accountant, 1935-1936. He was a member of the Acacia Fraternity at KU and served as its president for one term. After graduation from the University of Kansas in 1937, he worked in accounting for a packing plant in Arkansas City, the Federal Land Bank in Wichita, and the Kansas Unemployment Compensation division in Topeka. He passed the C.P.A. examination in 1941 and commenced work with a public accounting firm in Wichita in the fall of that year. He spent the summer of 1942 working as a civilian cost inspector for the U.S. Navy in St. Louis. After he was rejected by the army for military service in the fall of 1942, he returned to public accounting in Wichita, becoming an employee of Moberly and West. He served as president of the Kansas Society of C.P,A.s in 1967-68. In July of 1970, David left public accounting to work for Pickrell Drilling Company and became a partner the following year. A a member of the oil and gas industry, he was active in the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association and served as its treasurer for several years. Ill health resulted in his retirement from Pickrell Drilling Company in 1993. David married Ardis Wilcox in July, 1946, and he acquired a step-daughter, Joanne, at that time. David and Ardis traveled extensively on summertime vacations while he pursued his hobby of mountain climbing. He climbed nearly all of Colorados high mountains and he also climbed the highest mountains of Wyoming, New Mexico, California and Washington. In 1962, they traveled to Europe, where he climbed the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Blanc in France. Ardis died in 1982, and Joanne died in 2006. In 1983, David married Maxine Whiteley, a former classmate of the Herington High School class of 1932. They were married in the Eastminster Presbyterian Church and became members at that time. They also traveled extensively, principally to annual and semi-annual meetings of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. During the 1980s and early 1990s they enjoyed cruises to Alaska, down the St. Lawrence River and through the Panama Canal. David will be remembered as a kind, gentle, generous man who touched the lives of many people in a positive way. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. Memorials have been established with the Union Rescue Mission, 2800 N. Hillside, Wichita, 67219 the Salvation Army, 350 N. Market, and the Wichita Childrens Home, 810 N. Holyoke, Wichita, KS, 67208.