Bigfooter Doc Sipes Has Died
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 12th, 2011
Oregon Bigfoot researcher, Dr. M. Lloyd Sipe, 87, (04/15/1923-03/04/2011), a veterinarian, has died.
“He taught his kids honesty, to enjoy whatever they were doing.”
Lloyd passed away in Beaverton [Oregon] and was interred March 9, 2011, in Willamette National Cemetery. Born in Norwich, Kan., to Victor and Etta Sipe, Lloyd grew up in Gresham. He attended Oregon Agricultural College and received a degree in veterinary medicine from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. He married Norma McCausland June 27, 1943, in Kimball, Neb. Upon earning his degree, they moved to Oregon, settling in Hood River, where their daughter Robbe and son Tim were born. One of Lloyd’s favorite stories was about delivering Robbe in the hospital corridor. While in Hood River, Lloyd became an avid mountain climber and enjoyed climbing, skiing and volunteering with the Crag Rat mountaineering and search and rescue club. In 1949 the family moved to Parkersburg, Iowa, where sons Glenn and Rick were born.
Lloyd maintained a busy large-animal practice and was actively involved in the community; directing church choirs, singing at weddings and helping build the town’s golf course and public pool. In 1963 the family returned to Oregon and established Vista Pet Hospital in West Slope. Lloyd was an active member of the Portland Veterinary Medical Association and the Cedar Hills Kiwanis club, serving in various board positions. He and Norma also enjoyed playing bridge for many years. In 1973 they became foster parents, bringing four children ages 9 to 15, into their home while also welcoming their three older brothers. Retired in 1982, he loved his fix-it projects, whether it was a bored teenager or a broken-down lawn mower. Doc loved telling stories and never, as he liked to say, “let a few facts get in the way of a good story.”
He was preceded in death by his parents; [first] wife, Norma; sister, Marjorie Hayley; and daughter-in-law, Barbara Sipe. Lloyd is survived by his companion, Carolyn Purcell; brother, Ken Sipe of Marysville, Wash.; Sipe children: daughter, Robbe Sipe; sons, Tim (Cindy) Sipe, Glenn Sipe and Rick (Ann) Sipe; Kennedy children: daughters, Patty (Harry) Vanikiotis, Julie (Dave) Eaton and Ann Kennedy; and sons, Bill (Pam) Kennedy, Jim Kennedy, John (Connie) Kennedy and Chris (Cathy) Kennedy; and numerous nieces and nephews.
At the time of his death, Lloyd was the proud grandfather of 17 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Donations may be made to the Mount Hood Kiwanis Camp or Boys & Girls Aid. The Oregonian, March 12, 2011.
Doc Sipes at an Oregon MENSA meeting.
Bigfooter Joe Beelart notes: “Doc was a magnificent man and a good thinker. His voice, his personality had the power to remove unhappiness. One of the great intellects in our field. Was a good friend. Many lunches, Western Bigfoot Society meetings with him. Visited with him in his den many times. Lots of guidance on field work. Great humorist and story teller. “Doc Sipes” (everyone seemed to add an “s” to his name) will be sorely missed.”
Sipe’s second wife was Carmen, whom the Portland area Bigfooters mostly knew. Cliff’s wife is the one who first saw Bigfoot. Lloyd lived about 10 miles west of Portland, Oregon and lived in the town of Aloha, Oregon, during the WBS years.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
