I can speak to the early years of Trappers life. I met the Trap in July 1951 when I moved next door as a young buck. He and brother Dave were sitting in a little kiddie pool in their backyard as we pulled up to our new house in Riverton, NJ. Parked across the street in an empty lot was father Stan Lippincott's Star boat. I have memories of Little Trapper and Dave collecting frogs and turtles from the nearby Delaware river and along with some furry critters they had the first petting zoo of it's kind that I know of. But mostly I remember him fondly as the Jokester extraordinaire and one hell of a sailor. My favorite story took place circa 1966. It was a cold night and us underage teens were tuning-up with some beer in preparation for the Friday night trip to the local record hop. We were drinking in the storage shed at the Lippincott Boat Works and Trap was trying to expedite us as he broke our onions about how slow we drank and how fast he was. It was very dark in there and suddenly we heard the sound of running water, was it? What's that noise? Cousin Jimmy remarked, and he bent over to look under the boat where the sound seemed to be coming from. Then.........."Trapper, you're busted!" It seems that the sound was beer dripping from the stock boat we were standing next to. Trapper had been pouring out his beer into the hull of that boat..........but the bail-or was open and it ran straight out and formed a puddle of foam. Jimmy broke his chops for weeks after that. A classic Trapper trick.
So God bless and keep you mon Trap, gone but never forgotten.
Robert Gwynn
Riverton, NJ
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The time was the early 1960's and I was often crew for Trapper in Dusters. During the Nationals at Pleasantville, NJ, one of the shrouds came off the spreader tip, and I went up the mast to somehow get it re-fastened. Everyone thought Trapper had gotten angry and chased me up the mast, but this is NOT true! What was remarkable is that he was able to keep the boat upright in spite of the heavy air and chop, and me being up the mast. I guess I weighed about 90 lbs then.It was lesson in seamanship beyond racing, just for a few minutes.
I will always remember him for his outrageous humor and outlandish pranks. He was great sailor. I used to see him in Annapolis occassionall, and I talked to him was 2 years ago at SSA with Barb Vosbury. He reflected on his like a little in those days and I came reallise he was actually a very complex and intelligent man - he had taken up oil painting and had an interest in art, and had some startling things to say about his life.
I will miss him, like so many others. My best wishes to very extended family, related or not.
-Jeff Wightman, Gardiner, NY
This seems to be where the Riverton sailors are leaving their comments, so I'll post mine here also. I grew up in Riverton also and practically lived at RYC, during the summers. I knew and raced against Trapper, from the age of eight in our Dusters. He was a unique hulk of a guy and you were always glad that he was on your side, if a problem occured. I've lost touch with the Riverton Yacht Club crowd, that I grew up with, but the memories and life lessons, of those times, have stayed with me for my whole life. We will all miss Trapper and the experiences that we had with him. I lost my wife to cancer, just six months ago and I know what Paul and the rest of Trapper's support team have gone through. Hang in there and think of him in a better place.
Brian Wyllie, Fort Myers, FL
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