Lynda Tipton worked briefly as a staff person for Chicago Women’s Liberation Union and was a group leader in the CWLU Liberation School. Throughout her life Lynda was an activist for social justice.
Lynda Jo Tipton, age 67, passed away on March 16th after more than a year-long battle with kidney cancer. Lynda was the daughter of the late Joel W. and Elva (nee Bailey) Tipton of Erwin, TN. Lynda is survived by husband David de Vries, son Evan de Vries, sister Betty Scott of Waukesha, WI and sister Barbara Ratliff of Vermillion, OH.
Throughout her life Lynda was an activist for social justice. She marched for civil rights and women’s rights and against the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. After her work with the CWLU Lynda worked ten years as a union representative for SEIU Local 73. There she represented clerical, janitorial and technician staff at several Chicago area hospitals. As the mother of a biracial son, she was one of the founding members of the Interracial Family Network in the late 1980’s. She was very pleased to have lived long enough and see Barack Obama re-elected as President with high hopes for continued new directions domestically and internationally.
Memorial service for family and friends
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 2:00 pm Following the memorial service, the family will receive friends until 4 p.m.
Memorial location: Olson Burke/Sullivan Funeral & Cremation Center, 6467-77 N. Northwest Hwy., Chicago, IL www.obsfuneralandcremation.com, 773-774-3333.
Donations in lieu of flowers
Send donations in the memory of Lynda Tipton to:
The Kidney Cancer Association
www.kidneycancer.org, 800-850-9132
Remembrance book about Lynda
We are asking that our immediate family and friends prepare a remembrance to share with all guests at the memorial, if you feel up to it. Eileen Willenborg will also be collecting remembrances in text form to include in a book of same. If you can prepare something to share, please do. She will be available after the memorial or by e-mail to talk with you about arrangements. Please send your remembrances and questions to emwillenborg@gmail.com.
More About Lynda
Lynda J. Tipton
December 17, 1945 - March 16, 2013
Lynda was born in the heart of Appalachia and the youngest child by 16 years of Joel Worth and Elva (nee Bailey) Tipton. Her early years were spent in Coalwood, West Virginia where her father worked as a coal miner. When her father retired from the mines, they moved to Erwin, Tennessee where her parents had grown up. Lynda graduated from Unicoi County High School in 1963 and attended East Tennessee State University for a year before following her brothers and sisters to the Midwest.
Lynda settled in Chicago and worked as a secretary while attending the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and beginning graduate school, Lynda worked the night shift in the sleep laboratory for Dr. Rosalind Cartwright as a sleep and dream researcher. She then worked briefly as the staff person for the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), followed by ten years as a union representative for SEIU Local 73. There she represented clerical, janitorial and technician staff at several Chicago area hospitals. Lynda ended her working career as the business manager for Firetech Engineering Incorporated, the company she founded with her husband in 2001.
Throughout her life Lynda was an activist for social justice. She marched for civil rights and women’s rights and against the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. As a member of CWLU, she served as a group leader in the Liberation School. As the mother of a biracial son, she was one of the founding members of the Interracial Family Network in the late 1980’s. She was very pleased to have lived long enough and see Barack Obama re-elected as President with high hopes for continued new directions domestically and internationally.
Lynda met her husband, David de Vries, in 1976. They married on May 7, 1977 and lived 25 years in the West Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago before moving to Evanston. Together they became parents of Evan, who was adopted in 1986 at the age of 15 months. Lynda often said that being a mother to Evan was one of the best and most rewarding parts of her life. Evan is now an independent adult, a fire investigator by profession and a musician and Renaissance Faire actor by choice.
In November 2011 Lynda was diagnosed with kidney cancer. During surgery to remove the kidney, it became apparent that the cancer had already spread into her lymphatic system where it was inoperable. After seven months in a clinical trial for a new chemotherapy protocol at NIH in Maryland, the doctors determined that the treatment was not working and it was terminated in September 2012. She died in the early hours of March 16, 2013.
Lynda was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Leonard and William (“J.R.”) Tipton. She is survived by her husband David de Vries, son Evan de Vries and sisters Betty Scott and Barbara Ratliff. At her request her remains were cremated and her ashes will be tossed to the wind in a mountain-top meadow on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. Donations in her name to the Kidney Cancer Association (www.kidneycancer.org) would be welcome.