Noel Lipton

Noel (Al) Lipton, 71, of Atwood, passed away, after a battle with cancer, on June 29, 2014 at the Rawlins County Health Center. He was born September 9, 1942 in Seattle, Washington to Fredrick and Francis (Kelly) Lipton. In 1965 he received a letter from the draft board in Kansas City, KS to join the United States Army. He moved to Kansas, where he trained for the war with different MOS’s before becoming a Demolitions Expert. He went to Vietnam in 1968 and served with the 39th Combat Engineers and then the 73rd Infantry. He suffered wounds from three separate battles, including one to his left hand that ended his dream of a career in the Army. He returned to the states after six months in the hospital at Camp Drake, Japan. He was transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington and spent most of the next year in Madigan General Hospital. He was retired for medical reasons in 1971 and moved back to Kansas. He met Betty Ruckman in October 1971 and they were joined in wedlock on September 9, 1972, on Noel’s 30th Birthday. Because he was a Vietnam War veteran, he joined the wandering veterans called “War Gypsies” where he and Betty moved from one city or state every two years or so. When his wandering ran out of steam the couple settled back in Kansas in 1997, near his wife’s birth place of Great Bend. After moving to a couple of different towns they ended up in Atwood, in the North West Corner of the state, in 2009. He was a life member of the Wichita DAV and the American Legion of Atwood.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Dolly Lipton; twin brother, Fredrick Lipton and mother-in-law, Alberta Loving.

He is survived by his wife of forty one years, Betty, of the home; numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces, nephews and great great nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be 4-7:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at Baalmann Mortuary, Atwood. A military funeral will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, July 3, 2014 at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in Wakeeney. Memorials are suggested to the Noel Lipton Family MemorialFund in care of Baalmann Mortuary, 109 N. 2nd St., Atwood, KS 67730. Online condolences: www.baalmannmortuary.com