Theodore "Ted" Michael Chieppo's Obituary
Theodore Michael Chieppo Ted M. Chieppo, was born January 19th, 1923, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Michael and Sylvia Chieppo. Ted went home to God, on Friday, April 22nd, 2011, at the age of 88 years. He was the oldest of their six children. Ted grew up “Back East”, in New Haven, helping his father run the family bakery. In 1943, he was drafted into the Army, and spent his enlistment in the Pacific Theater of World War II as an engineer, in an Army Engineer Brigade. He island hopped, going to Hawaii, Inchon, Guadalcanal, Saipan, and finally, Japan, arriving two weeks after the first bomb hit Hiroshima. He served the rest of his time in the Army in Korea, serving in Occupation Forces Korea, before rotating back and being assigned to a Army Corps of Engineers Unit in Muscogee, OK. He was thrilled with the Oklahoma countryside, having grown up in a big city, and fell in love with Green Country. Ted was part of the crew that built the Tenkiller Dam in Gore, OK, and several other Corps of Engineers projects in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He married his first wife, Betty and had two children. His first job after serving his country was with Service Pipeline Co., in Tulsa, Ok. At Service Pipeline, he met Marilou Gano, his second wife, with whom he adopted two children. He later worked for Explorer Pipeline Company, in Tulsa, Ok, from which he retired in the 1980’s, as a pipeline engineer. After retiring, he later went back to work as a contract employee of The Williams Companies, also as a pipeline engineer. Ted was a 32 degree Mason, a member of The Tulsa Scottish Rite, and a member of the Akdar Shrine. He was Director of the Scooter Unit, in 1979, and was active in the Mounted Patrol, the Bowling League, and worked countless circuses during his lifetime. He believed in the mission on the Shriners, helping crippled and burned children, and was a proud member of the Shrine. Ted was also involved in politics, helping with the Republican Party in Oklahoma, at a time when there were not too many Republicans around. He believed in the Constitution, and was a patriotic and proud American. He loved his country and what it stands for. Ted loved the land he found in Bixby, and built two homes there. He loved to garden, to fish, to spend summer evenings on the porch with family and friends, and traveling around the country in his motor home. In 2004, his second wife, Marilou , preceded him in death. He met and later married Helen G. Long, in December of 2005. Ted is survived by his wife, Helen G. Chieppo, of the home, four children, Michael Chieppo, of Platte City, Missouri, and Jere Jo Chieppo, of Leavenworth, Kansas, Joy Michel White, of Tulsa, OK, and Edie Marie Phillips, of Bixby, Ok. and two step-children, Peggy Mitchell, of Broken Arrow, OK, and Gilda Gilbert, of Seatlle, WA; five brothers and sisters, Edward Chieppo, of Mesa, AZ, Rosemary Esposito, of Hamden, Connecticut, Richard Chieppo, of Mountain Ida, AR, Sylvia Brookes, of Clearwater, FL, and Cecialia Neudeck, of Costa Mesa, CA, eight grandchildren, Richard Murphy, of Alexandra, VA, Beth Woodward, of Tulsa, OK, Andrea McCormick, of Quincy, MA., Richard Turner, of Tulsa, OK, April Turner, of Tulsa, OK, Katherine Pann, of Tulsa, OK, Justin Phillips, of Bixby, OK, and Blake Phillips, of Bixby, OK, and five great-grandchildren and countless other friends.
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