Rippy, a dedicated community member and physician, was known for his work throughout Alamance County to improve the health and well-being of people regardless of circumstances.
Elon University is mourning the loss of Dr. Bill Rippy ’43, an Elon alum and dedicated community member, who was a member of the Elon Board of Trustees and trustee emeritus for 37 years. Rippy passed away surrounded by family in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Jan. 2 at age 103.
Rippy graduated from Elon College in 1943 as a pre-med student before serving for four years as a naval officer. He then attended medical school at Duke University and spent two years in the Army Medical Corp, completing his residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
In 1952, he and his wife, Helen Blalock ’46, returned to Elon, where Rippy opened his medical practice, which he continued for 38 years until his retirement in 1990. Rippy’s commitment to his patients kept him busy. He rose each day at 5:30 a.m. and didn’t get home before 7 p.m. Often, he’d work late at night, checking on his patients who were in the hospital.
Rippy served on staff at Alamance County and Alamance Memorial Hospitals, and later became the Chief of Staff for the Alamance County Hospital from 1965-1967. A proponent of healthcare for underprivileged children, Rippy was a physician for many years at Elon Homes for Children.
“It was such a joy, you could develop a good doctor-patient relationship,” he told the Magazine of Elon in 2004.
Rippy also believed passionately in giving back to his community and devoted hundreds of hours to serving on numerous nonprofit boards and on behalf of Elon. He was a member of the N.C. Commission for Health Services for 25 years and served eight years on the Alamance County Board of Health, two of which he was Chairman. During this time, he was awarded the North Carolina Medical Society President’s Citation. He was a member of the Alamance-Caswell Medical Society and a charter member of the American Academy of Family Practice. He was also a part of the North Carolina Radiation Protection Commission for 10 years.
“By getting involved in your community you can help chart its course,” Rippy said in 2004. “You can help people get what they need and make sure your community goes the right way.”
In 1999, he received the E. Harvey Estes, Jr., Physician Community Service Award for serving patients without regular access to healthcare. In addition, Dr. Rippy was a member of the Burlington Lodge 721 Masons, and a charter member of the Amran Temple of Shriners where he worked to refer burned and crippled children to Shriners Hospital. Through this, he received the Amran Shriners Children’s Hospital Appreciation Award. In 2002, he received the Alumni Service Award from the Elon Alumni Association. He and his wife were also co-presidents of the Golden Alumni Association. In 2004, he was awarded the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
“People swore by him. If they were sick, they wanted to see Dr. Rippy,” President Emeritus J. Earl Danieley ’46 told the Magazine of Elon in 2004. “He cared about his people, and they sensed that.”
Dr. Rippy was also a champion of integration and received the City of Burlington Award for his courageous leadership as a member of the city school board from 1965-1973.
Friends are invited to celebrate Rippy’s life on Saturday, Jan. 24 from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Elon Community Church located at 271 N Williamson Ave, Elon, NC 27244.