Emile Frederick "Rip" Domning

Emile Frederick "Rip" Domning died May 21, 2005, in Burtonsville, Maryland, at the age of 98, after suffering a fall on May 2. He was born Jan. 20, 1907 in Ocean Springs, the oldest child of Benard Domning and Alphonsine Beaugez. His reminiscences of growing up in Ocean Springs were serialized in 2003 in the "Ocean Springs Record". He got his nickname after friends were unable to wake him one morning for a fishing trip, and put a sign on top of his bed that read "RIP". His father (a Louisville & Nashville brakeman) having died in a railroad accident Domning left school after the 8th grade to help support his mother and three younger siblings. He first found work with the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co., which was then building the Rigolets and Chef Menteur railroad bridges in Louisiana. Some later jobs were as call boy and switchman for the L&N Railroad, cab driver, journeyman electrician, and (especially) merchant seaman. As an engine-room hand for several Depression-era steamship lines, he sailed to Europe, the Pacific, and his particular favorite, the Caribbean. In 1941 he married Maud Mugnier of New Orleans and Biloxi (who died in 1998), and went to work in the Biloxi Post Office. Following the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the Navy Seabees, but served for most of the war in the Fleet Post Office in Port Hueneme, California. That and his merchant marine service were high points in his life, and he never tired of telling vivid stories of those experiences. Returning to the Biloxi Post Office after the war, Domning delivered mail, and later supervised vehicle maintenance, for another 24 years. He helped organize the National Association of Letter Carriers local 1175, and led the Harrison County Post Office Employees Federal Credit Union from bankruptcy to financial success. He retired from the Postal Service in 1969. He became active in the Boy Scouts when his only child, Daryl (born 1947), was old enough to join. As an Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 213, he earned the ranks of Eagle Scout and Vigil Member of the Order of the Arrow, and served for many years as a Director and as President of Camp Wilkes, Inc. He belonged to the Holy Name Society of Nativity B.V.M. Catholic parish, and was a Third Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, in which he was enrolled for over 80 years. He is survived by his younger sister, Alice Domning Burnham of Mobile; his son, Daryl Domning, and his granddaughter, Charlotte Domning, both of Silver Spring, Maryland. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, June 4, 2005 at the Marion Chapel of Nativity BVM Catholic Church at 11: am where friends may visit two hours prior to service time. Burial will follow in Southern Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers the family prefers memorials to St. Vincent DePaul c/o Nativity BVM 870 Howard Ave. Biloxi, MS 39530.