Paul A. Drippé

Paul Albert Drippé died unexpectedly on Friday, March 22, 2024, at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka, one day after his 78^th birthday. 

He was born on the first day of spring, March 21, 1946, in Darby, Pennsylvania, the third child of Theodore Roosevelt Drippé and Edna Drippé. His father was a godson of President Teddy Roosevelt. Paul was raised in Pennsylvania and Florida and received his BA degree in anthropology at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Traveling out west with his friend, Sam, he met and married his wife of 52 years, Colleen Kennedy Drippé. They were married in January 1972 in Boise, Idaho.

Paul worked at a variety of interesting jobs when he was young, including work at a sprout factory in Oregon and beekeeping in Florida. He worked in construction in Alabama and then worked for his father in a vacuum cleaner sales and service business there. Later he moved to Tennessee and sold insurance for the Knights of Columbus. A job in over-the-road trucking enabled him to move his family to St. Marys, Kansas. While in Kansas he worked for noted companies such as K.G. Moats & Sons and Onyx.  

 Paul was a loving father of four and shared his love of swimming, fishing, and the outdoors with his children. He loved socializing with friends, and loved a good joke and a good beer. He had a passion for art and became a self-taught artist. He had many skills and hobbies such as carpentry, bee-keeping, wine-making, and beer-brewing. He was also an avid reader and a good friend of the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library in St. Marys.

Since 1996, Paul was a parishioner at the Assumption Chapel, now the Immaculata, in St. Marys. He is preceded in death by siblings, Ted and Barbara; he is survived by his wife, Colleen; sons, Michael, Christopher, and Joseph, and daughter, Therese; also 22 grandchildren.  

A rosary will be recited at 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26 at the Immaculata in St. Marys. Requiem Mass will be at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at the Immaculata. He will be buried at Our Lady of Peace Cemetery, St. Marys. The family is grateful for the many prayers and outpouring of love shown for him.