Marianne Rippe Longtime Westfield Resident
Marianne Aber Rippe passed away peacefully on Thursday, December 28, 2023, in Denver, Colorado.
Marianne grew up in Kenmore, New York, and attended Cornell University (class of 1953) as a pre-med student, where she received a B.A. degree in Zoology. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. While at Cornell, Marianne met her future husband, Dick Rippe (class of 1951), whom she married in 1953. After graduating, Marianne worked as a Neurophysiology Research Fellow in the Anatomy Department at New York University Medical School. Marianne and Dick had three children.
After moving to Westfield in 1965, Marianne enrolled in the M.A. degree program in School Psychology at Newark State College- Kean College in New Jersey. After receiving her master’s degree, she practiced as a school psychologist in Bernards Township, in addition to acting as an adjunct faculty member at Seton Hall. In 1975, Marianne enrolled in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University and graduated with a Psy.D. degree in 1979, at which time she started a Clinical Psychologist practice in Westfield. Marianne was also on the Executive Board of the New Jersey Academy of Psychology. She retired from private practice in 2006, when she and Dick moved from their Highland Avenue home of 45 years to Williamsburg, Virginia, to be closer to their children. In 2022, Marianne and Dick followed their daughter to Denver. Marianne enjoyed golf and tennis and loved going to the theater and opera. She was an avid reader and continued to learn and challenge herself intellectually into her nineties. Along with her husband, Marianne loved to travel, especially to destinations off the beaten track. Whether climbing into the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt or sitting down to a sauerbraten and potato dumpling dinner at Christmas, what Marianne loved most was being with her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Marianne is survived by her children, Ann Beard and her husband, John Beard, of Denver, Colorado, and Paul Rippe and his wife, Sheila Mullaney Rippe, of Wilmington, North Carolina; six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She is predeceased by her son, Bill Rippe, and her beloved husband, Dick, who passed away one year before she passed, just six months before their 70th wedding anniversary. Marianne will be deeply missed by her family and friends.
January 18, 2024
