Meet Your Neighbor
Kathy Tipper
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent

Date of birth
November 19, 1949
Likes most about Nantucket
The beaches.
The scenery.
The people.
Likes least about Nantucket
The winter isolation and lack of
restaurant and shopping options.
Favorite TV shows
NCIS, CSI, and Brothers and Sisters.
People say Nantucket's strong community is a reflection of the character of its residents. Kathy Tipper is one of those pillars, a woman who greets each day at a time when life has dealt her adversity with plenty of smiles, lots of love and optimism and a dedicated commitment to give back to her island as much as possible.

Born in New York City, Kathy graduated from Manhattan's private Marymount School and went on to Cornell University where she enrolled in its Architecture, Arts and Planning School. That was where she met her future husband, Harry Tipper, who, as President of Lyonsgate Reinsurance in Bermuda, commutes between the islands.

The couple wed at the end of their junior year in 1970 and graduated from Cornell in 1971. Having been influenced during her youth by her mother, a fashion designer, Kathy entered the world of retail, working for several major department stores in New York, including the Belk stores where 32 years ago she introduced petite sizes. She was Belk's dress buyer, then was buyer for ladies' suits before she retired in 1987 when the Tippers' second son, Bradley, was a year old. Their first son, Russell, was born in 1975.

When Kathy retired, the family moved to Wilton, Conn. where she became a "professional volunteer." She gave her time to local schools, the Family and Children's Services of Norwalk, Conn., and other organizations. In 1993 the Tippers moved to Barrington Hills, Ill., where Kathy involved herself with its museum and brought in a fashion show exhibit of wearable art. She also volunteered for Barrington's chapter of the Pony Club of America. Four years later, the family relocated to Mendham, N.J. where Kathy volunteered with its Morristown Museum among other community organizations. The Tippers moved year-round to Nantucket in January 2002.

Kathy and Harry had been spending summers on the island since they met and in 1992 bought the first of the three homes they have lived in. In the last six years, Kathy has immersed herself in the community, enrolling with A Safe Place one week after moving here to learn how to be a hotline volunteer. She has also served on the boards of A Safe Place and Family and Children's Services. During the summers of 2005 and 2006 she was an interpreter for programs hosted at the Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum.

She is currently on the board of the Hospital Thrift Shop, where she has volunteered for six years. She also has been involved for five years with The Seconds Shop, working for the last year and a-half on a Monday through Thursday schedule, leaving the island Thursday evenings for colon cancer chemotherapy at Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston. She comes home Friday nights and returns to The Seconds Shop to work Saturday mornings.

Diagnosed with cancer in November 2006, Kathy refuses to let it get the best of her in spite of the trials of treatment.

"I keep telling everybody that a moving target is harder to hit," she said with a genuine smile. "I love being with people and I'm getting ready for my first grandchild in April. There are two things I am very passionate about: one is giving back to the community in any way I can, and two is educating people about colon cancer, which is really a silent disease."

When she has spare moments, Kathy enjoys reading, going to tag sales and for the last 40 years has painted in oils and acrylics. Her dream is to visit her son Bradley in Copenhagen where he is spending the spring college semester. Her goal is to learn to create a Nantucket Lightship basket.

Though she has had to make some life changes as a result of her disease, Kathy is convinced she is going to beat this demon and is grateful for the community's support of her personal battle.

"I intend to see this little granddaughter graduate from college," she

said in no uncertain terms. I