David Farnham Taplin

David Farnham Taplin 

1949-2026

David Taplin passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with brain cancer on April 1, 2026, in Norwich, Vermont, lovingly surrounded by close members of his family.

He was born to Frank E Taplin Jr. and Ngaio Thornton Lowry on September 7, 1949.He lived his early years in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he attended Hawken School. After graduating from Loomis School in Windsor, Connecticut, he attended Malvern College in Great Malvern, England, for one year.

He graduated from Middlebury College where he made lifelong friends. He resided in Norwich for several years on Bragg Hill Rd. until he fell in love with Strafford, Vt. He bought land on Richardson Hill and with the help of friends built an attractive timber-frame, stone house. He spent a good deal of his time in the woods, cutting firewood for his sugaring operation. The sugarhouse was the site of spring pancake breakfasts with friends. David’s passion for his land with its forests, fields and wildlife led him to conserve the entirely of his property with the help of the Upper Valley Land Trust. A conservation fund has been set up in his name. (See below)

David liked to say that work and beauty made his life worth living. The expression “function is beauty” speaks to how he enjoyed aesthetics in his many diverse interests: in buildings, cars and in machinery and tools, and of course in trees, gardens, and art. His appeal for stone went beyond New England to the stone walls and ancient sites in Ireland and England and to his passion for Inuit sculpture.

David had an interest in international politics and in world languages, cultures and sports. He kept up to date on events and issues of all kinds. He often could be found with a newspaper in his hands. David was a wealth of knowledge.

He touched many lives. Red, as he was called by his close friends, was well liked because of his kindness and his witty, easy-going nature and was admired for his service to his beloved town of Strafford. He undertook many projects over his fifty years there. He planted trees; planned and facilitated the building of an ice rink and two soccer fields (one for Sharon Academy); and would always be available to lend a hand or offer financial support to school programs or to restore town buildings. He could be seen on an early cold morning flooding the rink, or walking miles on end painting the lines on the soccer and baseball fields. He served on several town committees. He coached 7th and 8th grade soccer for many years. These acts of loyalty and service to his community earned him the Lions Club Citizen of the Year award in 2024.

David enjoyed serving on the board of Vermont PBS for 15 years, as well as on the board of the Preservation Trust of Vermont for over 10 years. He was on the board of NACCO Industries, a family business in Cleveland, Ohio.

His deepest pleasures came from being with Courtney Dobyns whom he met in 1985 and her children Rye and Travis Keller. Some of his fondest memories were spending time together exploring his beloved state of Vermont and Maine, and traveling to Canada, England, Ireland, France and Italy where he enjoyed food, art and culture. He so enjoyed being a “grandfather” to Travis and Kate Keller’s daughters, Alice and Vivian. Over the years there were many happy holiday times with his extended family around the large Taplin dining room table at the farmhouse in Marlboro, Vermont.

David is predeceased by his parents Frank E Taplin Jr. and Ngaio Thornton Lowry; his stepmother Margaret Eaton Taplin and his stepfather William H. Lowry.

He will be greatly missed by his family consisting of Courtney Dobyns, Rye Keller, her partner Jesse Waring, Travis Keller and his wife, Kate Keller, and their children Alice and Vivian Keller; his two sisters, Caroline Ruschell (Ron Skufca) and Jennifer Jerome; his three stepsisters, Jennifer Dickerman (Joseph Dickerman), Marty Kelly and Susan Sichel (Vincent Panella); his nieces Anna, Katie, Sarah and Laura; as well as his nephews David, Adam, Benjamin, Alex, Justin, James and Colin.

The David Taplin Conservation Fund has been set up at the UVLT in his name to honor David’s legacy of land conservation in order to support and encourage the permanent protection of outstanding land and water resources in the Towns of Strafford and Thetford.

In his memory donations to the David Taplin Conservation Fund may be directed to the Upper Valley Land Trust, 19 Buck Road, Hanover, NH 03755.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Strafford Town House, Strafford, Vermont, on May 30, 2026, at 2:00 pm.

Knight Funeral Home of White River Junction has been entrusted with arrangements and online messages may be shared in an online guestbook on www.knightfuneralhomes.com