Richard Tappan ... longtime ORHS English teacher

DOVER - Richard Charles Tappan was born on July 20, 1945 to Eunice and Edwin Tappan in Lynn, Mass. He was the second of three children. Even as a young child, Richard loved learning. He had a curiosity about the world and an expansive imagination that helped to broaden his economically constrained boundaries.
At Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, he was class president and graduated near the top of his class in 1963. He went on to attend UNH and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. After college, Richard attended law school at New York University on a full scholarship. After completing his first year at NYU, and with the Vietnam War raging, he took a teaching position, thus changing the trajectory of his life.
Through teaching Richard discovered his true passion. He spent the majority of his 31-year teaching career in the Oyster River School District in Durham. There he found a home and a place to thrive. His thirst for knowledge and curiosity about the world was contagious to his students. He may have been an English teacher, but his students came away from his classroom with so much more than improved writing and grammatical skills.

They came away feeling valued and understanding their individual gifts. Richard was able to impact his students and the community through his love of theater by directing 57 plays and musicals throughout his time at Oyster River, even writing one original musical and play that were performed during his tenure. After retiring from teaching, Richard was proud of the work he did at the Center for Assessment where he worked on educational initiatives to improve student assessment practices in Wyoming.
Richard was a published author who wrote an historical fiction novel called, Cold River, as well as a biography detailing the lives of his grandparents who worked in the theater and vaudeville industry in Boston in the early 1900s, called The Final Curtain.
In 2007, Richard suffered a massive stroke which almost took his life. He lived the next 12 years with left-sided paralysis and aphasia. He had to learn how to speak and walk again. He bore these challenges with humor and incredible grace. His determination was nothing short of heroic. Over all of these many years, bladder cancer was lurking in the background. It would come and go. Eventually, the bladder cancer prevailed, but not without a tremendous fight.
Richard's lasting legacy will be the example he set as a loving, hardworking, and faithful husband, father, son, uncle, brother, and friend. He lived his faith, and his faith was paramount in his life. Richard was a long-time member of Durham Evangelical Church, Bethany Church, and First Parish Church in Dover. He was involved throughout his adult life in service to others, including a mission trip to Bolivia. His objective was to love others as Christ loved him. He was generous to a fault, and he was forgiving. He took great comfort in this Biblical promise: "Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." John 16:22
Richard leaves behind his loving and faithful wife of 50 years and his exceptional caretaker for the past 12 years, Sally Tappan and his children Melissa Parr and husband, Andrew; Amanda Tombarelli and husband Samuel; and son Richard Tappan, Jr. and wife Elizabeth, as well as his twelve grandchildren. Richard also leaves behind his siblings William Tappan and wife, Nancy; Barbara Colvin; and Phyllis Kirby and their children and grandchildren. In addition, Richard leaves behind his step-siblings Blaine Copp, Larry Copp, Lynne Copp, Lisa Roy, Robin Currier, and Brenda Babylon. He also leaves behind scores of former students who were so important to him.