Clara Brown Tripp Was Chappaquiddick Native

Clara Brown Tripp, 83, of Leesburg, Fla., died on April 3 at Craven Regional Medical Center in New Bern, N.C. She was born on Chappaquiddick on July 3, 1919, to Mack and Rose Silva, who had emigrated to this country from Portugal.

She was graduated from the Edgartown High School and spent the great majority of her life raising her three children, working for the New England Telephone Company and working with her husband, Bill, in their business, Bill Brown's Electric. She was also an avid fisherman, winning many derby prizes.

On their retirement, Clara and Bill relocated to Leesburg, where they were members of St. Mary's Church in Eustis and the Mid Florida Lakes Boat Club. Mr. Brown died on May 20, 1991.

In 1995, Mrs. Tripp was married to Edward J. Tripp of Mid Florida Lakes, formerly of Barnstable. He died Nov. 9, 2000.

Mrs. Trip is survived by her three children, James Brown of Windsor, Me., Jean Ann Collison of New Bern, N.C., and Sandra Arnold of Edgartown. Other survivors include a brother, Edward Silva of Leesburg, Fla.; stepchildren Steven Tripp of Maryland, Laurie Lang of Massachusetts, Kathie Dunlap of Virginia and Ellen Corrigan of Massachusetts; seven grandchildren, Polly Maciel of Maine, Robert Brown, Tom Sawyer and Susan Schofield of Massachusetts, Curtis Collison 3rd of Georgia, Eric Collison of North Carolina and Jeffrey Collison of Virginia, as well as 12 great-grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A wake will be held Sunday, April 20, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs. The funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, April 21, at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Edgartown. Interment will be at the New Westside Cemetery in Edgartown.