Hospice’s fashion show honors Sally Trippe

Written by Catherine Samose
Sunday, 27 September 2009 00:00

On Thursday, Oct. 15, at 11 a.m., the Redding chapter of Regional Hospice will present October Gold, a luncheon at the Redding Country Club featuring a fashion show and a Chinese auction.

There will be six Ridgefield shops featured in the fashion show: SheShe, Zipped, ShoeLaLa, Candlelight Shoppe, Parker East and Lucy’s.

The local hospice chapter has held the cost to $35. Checks should be made out to Regional Hospice Redding and sent to Lynn Grant, 175 Lonetown Rd., Redding CT 06896. Your check is your reservation. Space is limited. If you have a seating preference, include it along with your choice of entrée, Chicken Chardonnay or Grilled Salmon.

This year’s fashion show luncheon will honor the late Sally Trippe, whose Sand Dollar Foundation gave $10,000 to Redding Hospice.

Ms. Trippe was a well-known figure in Redding. She was a fifth-grade teacher from 1969 to 1985, first in John Read Middle School, and then in Redding Elementary School after the fifth grade was moved back to the lower school in 1980. Before coming to Redding, Ms. Trippe was dean of students at her alma mater, Connecticut College, from 1965 to 1968.

Ms. Trippe and Carmen Mathews, New Pond Farm founder, were good friends. In the mid-1980s when Ms. Matthews decided to give her 102-acre farm to help others, it was Ms. Trippe who saw “the incredible educational potential” of the farm, according to New Pond Farm’s Executive Director Ann Taylor, who has been with New Pond since 1987. With the help of the staff and board of directors, its founders, Ms. Mathews and Ms. Trippe, New Pond Farm was born.

“I worked with her for so many years. What a big, big place she had in her heart for children,” Ms. Taylor said.

Ms. Trippe was president of New Pond Farm’s board of directors until 1995.

“I met Sally through tennis and she introduced me to New Pond,” said Sharon Coates, current president of the board. “Sally was the last president of the board of directors of New Pond Farm before me. She became my mentor.”

According to Ms. Taylor, Ms. Trippe decided to set up her Sand Dollar Foundation “to support causes she believed in, and certainly hospice was one of those.” Ms. Trippe set up a board of directors to decide who would receive contributions. Ms. Taylor and Ms. Coates are members of that board.

“We felt this was so in keeping with what she would have wanted because hospice played such a key role in her life. Her last days were so much more comforting for Sally because of hospice.”

This article was submitted on behalf of the Redding Chaper of Hospice.