Gordon Tapper

Gordon A. Tapper, aged 95 of Wausau died unexpectedly Thursday, Feb 18th, 2021 at Aspirus Wausau Hospital. He was born November 3, 1925, in Wausau to Helmuth and Alma (Raduechel) Tapper. Gordon was the fourth of seven children.

Gordon was a lifelong member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Town of Wausau, and attended the one-room Trinity school. In his younger years, he and his brother Dave often sang a duet in church and on occasion sang solos for weddings.

He worked with his parents on the dairy farm and later with his brother Elroy for their brothers Gib and Les at Tapper’s Dairy. After the dairy closed, he worked as a custodian at the Marathon County Courthouse until his retirement. He was a wonderful caregiver to his mother in her later years.

Gordon was proud of the fact that his parents originated the Tapper’s Dairy and spent many hours scouring the area for Tapper’s Dairy milk bottles and bottle caps. He was generally recognized a guy with the milk bottles and antiques of one sort or another at flea markets in the surrounding areas. His ability to talk to just about anyone helped him garner a friendship with fellow marketers.

In recent years Gordon resided at The Bay at Colonial Manor-Wausau. He was comfortable there and was liked by all the staff. Gordon could be seen in the sunroom at the manor working on jigsaw puzzles long into the evening. He enjoyed visits with the staff when they had a moment to sit and chat, telling tales of his life on the farm. It is obvious that the staff enjoyed him because they often sat while on break helping with the puzzles. Gordon liked his 70% or better dark chocolate bars and spending time just talking. One of the gentlemen staff would keep him happily supplied. Just the day before he passed away one of the nurses picked up a lemon meringue pie to share with him because she knew that was his favorite. They certainly cared for him in ways beyond his physical needs. They were family.

Gordon had a unique sense of humor and opinions. To his family, he was always challenging us to eat what he ate, drink what he drank and exercise in ways he thought would be best for us. Right down to the frying of tofu without seasoning, to drinking Liebfraumilch wine which, according to him, was the best wine ever with content of only 10%. He advised us to stay away from pizza and we are not sure if he ever was convinced it was healthy even after being told that it was a crust covered with all things good like tomato sauce, healthy meat, and cheese.

We want to thank all the staff at Colonial Manor and the staff for the two days that he was at Aspirus-Wausau Hospital. Also, we thank Arlene Krueger for all her visits and to clean his apartment while at City Walk. Arlene made regular visits while he was at Colonial Manor and spent much of her time chatting and doing puzzles with him.

Gordon is survived by his sister Beth Tapper Flory, sisters-in-law Esther Tapper, Mary-Ann Tapper, and many nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Gerald (at birth), David (Pat), Gib, Les (Mildred), Mike (Ethel), and Elroy.

Because of the COVID pandemic, private services will be held at a later date.