Saying goodbye to a family member

Window on the West
by Mary Rupert

On Monday we are saying goodbye to my father-in-law, Paul D. Rupert Sr., who died Nov. 19 at the age of 86.

He was the youngest son of eight children (plus one more who died in childhood) of the late Rev. Lynn H. Rupert Sr., and he lived in Kansas City, Kan., most of his adult life, except for the past several years, when he lived with his daughter in Olathe.

Paul was the last one of his siblings to pass away. His older sister, Mary, had passed away only about three months earlier in another state. Paul’s wife, Louise, died in the 1980s.

Growing up during the Depression, there were many hardships endured by him and his siblings. I recall him never eating onions, for example, because in some of the more difficult years, they had a lot of onion soup. But they all managed to get through those days, anyway.

I heard Paul tell some stories about how, as a child, he was a paperboy, throwing the Kansas City Kansan. He was a laborer all his adult life until retirement, but his main focus was raising his family of four kids in the Turner area.

A few months ago, he fell and broke his hip, and then complications ensued in the recovery process. He will be missed by his children and their families.

Paul’s survivors include his four children, Peggy Stephens, Steven Rupert, Larry Rupert and Paul D. Rupert Jr., and their families.

The services include a visitation at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 23, followed by an 11 a.m. service Monday, Nov. 23, at the Amos Family Funeral Home, 10901 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kan. Burial is at Chapel Hill Cemetery, Kansas City, Kan.

To contact Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].