Based on a memorial written by his wife, Beverly Tappan:
Donald Vester Tappan was born in the small town of Orestes, Indiana, at 7:40 a.m. on May 5, 1925, the son of Willis Vester Tappan and Dora Lillian Carver Tappan. He was the first of four children: brothers Richard and James and sister Mary.
His father was a school teacher and later principal of the Orestes Elementary School, just down the road from the Tappan home. His mother often served as school librarian.
He attended the county High School in Alexandria, Indiana, where he got his letter “A” for managing the school basketball team, and graduated with highest honors.
Almost immediately he was drafted as a private in WW II from which he emerged as a technical sergeant and was awarded the Silver Star medal for heroic rescues under fire during the Battle of the Bulge.
Purdue University was the next step, where he earned a BS with highest distinction in chemistry.
The summer prior to graduation, he met Beverly Blanche Hilton on a volunteer summer school project in northeastern Wyoming. Following his graduation they were married in her home city of Lynn, MA and he embarked on graduate studies which led to a Ph.D. in biochemistry (thesis) at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
His first job was in Lima, Peru, where he performed altitude studies for the US Air Force, living for extended periods at a laboratory in Morococha, a mining town altitude 15,000 ft.
On their return to Madison, their first son Jonathan was born Sept. 13, 1955, and Don worked on a cancer-related postdoctoral research project.
After that Don accepted a position at the University of Maine in Oreno, becoming associate professor before leaving in 1959. Daughter Carol and son Dan were born during this period.
In the spring of 1959 he came to southeastern CT to work as a researcher at the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, at the Submarine Base in Groton CT, buying a house in Ledyard CT. Daughter Sarah was born there. Then a 10 acre piece of land was purchased in North Stonington and Don built a house over the next several years. Daughter Isabel was born the first November.
For the next 25 years Don worked at the Submarine Base studying biochemical effects on submarine sailors, publishing such papers as:
- MAXIMUM RATE KINETIC ANALYSIS APPLIED TO ENZYME ASSAY DATA
- CARBONIC ANHYDRASE ANALYSES OF THE BLOOD OF SUBJECTS EXPOSED TO A HELIUM-OXYGEN ENVIRONMENT AT SEVEN ATMOSPHERES PRESSURE
- Urinary Indicators of Stress: Effects of Exposure to Simulated Sonar Noise for 8 to 23 Days
- MAXIMUM RATE ANALYSIS OF ERYTHROCYTE CARBONIC ANHYDRASE IN HYPERCAPNIC GUINEA PIGS
- ENZYME CONCENTRATION INFLUENCES ON ACTIVITY MEASUREMENTS
- Biochemistry of Submarine and Diving Stress. III. Plasma Creatine, Creatine Phosphate and Creatine Phosphokinase Responses to Hypercapnia
- Carbohydrate Metabolism in Submariner Personnel
- Biochemical Responses to a 28-Day Interval between Exposures to Air at 6.7 ATA
- Biochemical Responses of Men to Simulated Air Dives of 100 Feet
- Biochemical Profiles of Submariners: A Longitudinal Health Study
- Submarine Atmospheres
Don died April 28, 1989
