Richard "Rusty" Howard Van Sipe

Richard “Rusty” (Howard) Van Sipe age 99 of Cocoa Florida passed away on Tuesday August 11th at Vitas Hospice facility in Rockledge Florida. He was born on August 16th, 1926 in Spratt Michigan to Russell and Florence VanSipe. Rusty graduated from Alpena high school. His number one love was baseball. He was an avid fan of the Detroit Tigers starting in 1935 when he heard them win the world series at the age of 9. He was accepted by the St. Louis Cardinals but had to decline because he got drafted into WW11 and served in Japan.

He then joined the Michigan State Police in 1949, his first post was in Battle Creek Michigan.There he met and married the Love of his life Mary Havens at Greely Baptist Church in Lachine Michigan on March 25th 1950. He was also sent to the Brighton Post and Jackson post. Then transferred to the Gladstone post where he became a Lieutenant and the Post Commander.

He retired in 1975 and moved to Florida for the winters and always came back to Delta County in Michigan around the end of April, and stayed next door to his daughter and son-in-law Vicki and Tim Caron. Rusty and Mary enjoyed their summers. Rusty was an avid golfer up into his 90s. He enjoyed puzzling and reading his baseball digest everyday. Rusty and Mary visited every baseball stadium in the United States and took two trips to Germany. They were married for 72 years.

Rusty is survived by daughters Vicki (Tim) and Debi and Son Ricki and sister-in-law Judy Davis. And several nieces and nephews. He has 7 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild. He is preceded in death by 5 sisters Francis, Hilda, Gladys, Mable, Annette, brother Eddie and his parents Russell and Florence.

Services will be held on Saturday August 15th at Wylie-Baxley Funeral Home, 1360 N Courtenay Pkway, Merritt Island FL. Visitation will be from 10-11am followed by a funeral service 11-12. Veterans memorial ceremony will immediately follow at Cocoa Memorial Park and Cremation Gardens, 320 Spring Street, Cocoa FL.