Rupe, Doris Amelia Wade (1917-2004)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Oct 25 p. 8

Birth date: 1917 Sep 25

text of obituary:

DORIS WADE RUPE

Doris Amelia Wade Rupe, 87, died Sept. 27, 2004, in Goshen, Ind. She was born Sept. 25, 1917, to Clark and Mary Conrad Wade in Sterling, Ill.

After earning a degree in medical laboratory technology at Franklin School of Science and Art in Philadelphia, she graduated from Goshen College in 1946.

She worked at Harper Hospital in Detroit for 14 years, then at Swedish American Hospital in Chicago, where she met Lloyd O. Rupe. They married May 15, 1948. She worked at Jackson Clinic in Madison, Wis., while he completed medical training. When they moved to Elkhart, she began a new career as a homemaker and community volunteer.

She enriched family and friends by keeping and sharing a lovely home rich in flowers, fine food, art and music. They raised three biological children and three foster children from Germany and Austria.

As a member of Prairie Street Mennonite Church, she served as elder, choral director and chair of the music committee. She directed the junior choir, and she belonged to the Choristers Guild.

She was a volunteer all her life, first at Hull House in Chicago, then at Oaklawn in Goshen and later in the church's Mennonite Women. She and her husband gave the land for Prairie Street Child Development Center in Elkhart, and she served on the board until her death. They also established scholarship funds at Goshen College and Sterling (Kan.) College.

Survivors include a daughter, Nancy Rupe-Cressy and her husband, Michael, of Mishawaka; two sons, John C. Rupe and his wife, Linda, of Fayetteville, Ark., and Daniel W. Rupe of Hudson, N.Y.; a foster daughter, Elfi O'Brien of California; a foster son, Ulrich "Ulli" Eggert of Detroit; a sister, Helen Alderfer of Goshen; a brother, Harold Wade of Valrico, Fla.; two grandchildren and eight foster-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, L.O. Rupe; foster son Darko Rapotez; and a brother, Ralph Wade.

Funeral services were held at Prairie Street Mennonite Church. Burial was in the church cemetery.