Read Katharine "Tippy" Otis Guerin's Obituary & Leave Condolences

In memory of

Katharine "Tippy" Otis Guerin

Canton, GA

September 15, 1931 - November 25, 2017

Sep 15, 1931 - Nov 25, 2017

Help keep everyone in the know by sharing this memorial website.

Share

Photo

Katharine Ann Otis (Tippy) Guerin, 86, of Canton, GA, died November 25, 2017, at home, while undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

She was born on September 15, 1931 to John H. Otis II and Lucille Martindill Earnest in Millbrook, NY. She was known as Ann, and by her nickname Tippy, which came from walking on her tiptoes as a small child. She shared many stories of her happy childhood in Millbrook where she was the eighth and last generation to live in the Philip Hart house in the Hart’s Village section of town. She attended a one-room school for several years, and remembered warming herself next to the pot-bellied stove after skating during recess. She recalled roller skating around town and attending movies with her brother, John, ten months her senior. Tippy loved planes and wanted to be a pilot when she was a girl. During World War II when she was a teenager, she worked as a plane spotter for two hours every Saturday morning in defense of the restricted air space over Hyde Park, Franklin Roosevelt’s summer home. It was exceedingly boring according to Tippy, except the one and only time a B24 bomber flew over at tree-top level, causing her to call a special number to report it.

Following many family members, Tippy attended high school at The Emma Willard School for Girls in Troy, NY, graduating Cum Laude in 1948. She attended Mt. Holyoke College for three years where she learned to ski and play tennis, and sang in the college octet known as the V-8s. She left college after her junior year to get married. Tippy completed her B.A from William Patterson College in 1975 and went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Reading from the University of Vermont in 1982.

Tippy married the late Herbert R. Hansen of Poughkeepsie, NY in 1951 and they had five boys over the next ten years. Over the course of her marriage the family lived in Bridgeport, CA; Buffalo, NY; Pittsfield, MA; Hartford, CT; Hopkinton, NH; Kinnelon, NJ; Birmingham, MI; and Shelburne, VT. When asked many years ago what it was like to raise a family of five boys, she wrote, “It was wonderful, exciting, terrifying, loads of fun, exhausting, and the most satisfying time of my life!”

Tippy began working as a music teacher in Paterson, NJ, in 1974. After her divorce, the family moved to Vermont where she taught kindergarten, second and third grades at the Hinesburg (VT) Elementary School. She next taught 4th grade and worked as a reading specialist at the Charlotte (VT) Central School until her first retirement in 1988. She returned to work at the age of 76 in the Atlanta area as a full time preschool teacher and then a teacher’s aide into her early 80s. Her love for kids and passion for teaching kept her working as a personal tutor five days a week until two months before her death.

It was during her time in Vermont that she was introduced to her second husband, the late William Guerin, of Quechee, VT. They married in 1988 and enjoyed a wonderful eleven years of travel, golf and tennis while dividing their time between Quechee and Pompano Beach, Florida. Shortly before Bill’s death in 1999, they had some excitement when their cruise ship struck a container vessel in the English Channel, setting the other ship on fire and depositing three containers right against their cabin. When they tried to report to their lifeboat station, they discovered that their lifeboat had been torn from the side of the ship in the collision. Fortunately, they did not need it. Tippy continued travelling after Bill’s death, using an adventure travel agency to go to exotic locales including China, Central and South America, and Africa. She was scheduled to leave for Patagonia in early December.

It would be an understatement to say that Tippy was an avid tennis player. She played her entire adult life on teams and ladders. We are not sure how many different tennis teams she was on in the Atlanta area, but she enjoyed being one of the oldest players on most of her teams. A friend remembered that she came to one match in a sweatshirt that said, "Age and treachery always beats youth and skill".

Tippy was also an accomplished singer. She directed the Hopkinton (NH) Congregational Church children’s choir for many years, and in her later years loved singing in the Canton United Methodist Church choir. In this latter choir, she was known to have a special seat near the door so she could leave right after the anthem to make it to tennis on time.

Tippy is survived by her five sons and their spouses/partners: Herbert A. Hansen II (Skip) and wife Nancy Melcher of Tucson, AZ; Peter O. Hansen and wife Julie of Huntersville, NC; Jeffrey R. Hansen and wife Debra of Stockholm, NJ; James M. Hansen and wife Melissa Williams of Oregon City, OR; and John T. Hansen of Lebanon, NH and his partner, Jenn Pitts of Hanover, NH. She is also survived by three stepchildren: Michael C. Guerin of New Smyrna Beach, FL; William H. Guerin of Sanford, FL; Jane Acker (Guerin) Young of Los Angeles, CA; and the late Thomas H. Guerin. Tippy was affectionately known as Uncle Mom to her nine grandchildren: Christine, Jennifer, and Kevin Hansen; Lee Jett, Jeremey and Emilee Hansen; Andrew and Craig Hansen; and Madeleine Hansen. She is also survived by three great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be Wednesday, November 29, 2017, at 11:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 930 Lower Scott Mill Rd, Canton, GA 30115. At her request, Tippy’s ashes will be spread at a later date from a pier in Pompano Beach, Florida, where Bill Guerin’s ashes were spread.

Memorials or donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church, 930 Lower Scott Mill Rd, Canton, GA 30115 or a charity of your choice.

Get notified when new photos, stories and other important updates are shared.