FOUND DEAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 January 1939, Page 6

FOUND DEAD

MR ALFRED RIPPON TRAGIC DISCOVERY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. Early this afternoon the body of a • well-known Masterton resident, Mr Alfred Rippon, of Cornwall Street, was found in the Odd Fellows' Hall in Queen Street with the head in a gas oven in one of the ante-rooms, the gas being full on. The police were immediately communicated with and Dr J. C. Forsyth, who was sent for. pronounced life to be extinct. The body was later removed to the morgue. It is understood that Mr Rippon left a letter addressed to an. official of the Order of Odd Fellows.

The late Mr Rippon war. born in Yorkshire. England, about 55 years ago. He served for some time in the British Navy and subsequently settled in New Zealand taking up his residence in Masterton about 30 years ago. In his younger days he was a wellknown athlete, winning events at meetings in various parts of the Dominion. He took a keen interest in the progress of Masterton and had been a member of a number of public bodies during the past 25 years, rendering splendid service. For several terms he was a member of the Borough Council and he unsuccessfully contested the mayoralty on three occasions. He also served on the Masterton Trust Lands Trust and was associated with a number of other local institutions. He had been secretary of the local Masterton Odd Fellows’ Lodge over a long period of years. The late Mr Rippon loaves a widow and a family of three sons and two daughters, to whom the sympathy of tne community will be extended.