Dennis F. Rupel - Brief Life History
Presented by Bonnie Kline Smeltzer

June 11, 2000, Modesto California Church of the Brethren

Dennis Franklin Rupel was born in Lassa, Nigeria on September 27, 1930, while his family served in the mission field there. He was the oldest of three children born to Paul and Naomi Zigler Rupel, along with sisters Doris and Joyce. During his several years in Nigeria, Dennis learned to speak the Bura language even before he learned English. The family also served three years in Liberia with his uncle Claude Rupel and family. 

Dennis was home schooled by his mother Naomi, in the first grade using "the Calvert Method," which must have been very successful because it placed Dennis at the third grade level when the family returned to the States that fall. The family moved around Southern California for several years as Dennis' father sought out better positions as a high school Math and Industrial Arts teacher. They finally settled in Riverside, California where Dennis attended Junior High and High School. All this movement helped Dennis learn to make new friends quickly and get along well with all kinds of people. Nevertheless, he felt painfully shy at times, on the inside, and even stammered on occasion in stressful situations early on in his life. 

After graduating from Riverside Polytechnic High School in 1948, Dennis took the leap across country to attend Manchester College, a Church of the Brethren school in Northern Indiana. Funds were scarce so Dennis hitch-hiked east, once in the fall and back for the summer, spending the whole school year "away from home." Dennis had some great experiences in his hitch-hiking college days. One time he and the driver wound up in the middle of a farm field when, after 30 or 40 miles of a perfect straight- away, the road curved, but the dazed or sleepy driver didn't. Another time Dennis got into the front seat with a fellow, where there was a coat on the seat between them. After riding and talking for an hour or two, the driver picked up the coat and there was a handgun sitting on the seat. The driver threw the coat in the back, and then the gun too, and said, "Well, I guess I won't be needing this." (Guess he figured out that Dennis would do him no harm!) Dennis always did have a way of putting you at ease, didn't he. 

After graduating from college with a BS in Chemistry, Dennis went to Northwestern University Medical School just north of Chicago, Illinois. After four comfortable years in the cozy confines of a small Brethren College, this first year at a big university in a metropolitan area was quite a shock. Later, he would describe this as the loneliest year of his life. His uncle Claude came through and visited him during that year and gave him a Bible, which Dennis read avidly, and so that year also became an important time of spiritual growth for him.

After that first year of Medical School, something else began to change in Dennis' life - he met LaVon Widegren. Actually, they started living together before they even met, at the Fellowship House for Brethren Volunteers in Elgin, Illinois. LaVon came to work at the church headquarters, training and supervising volunteers and doing peace and service promotion, while Dennis finished a summer job at the Elgin State Hospital. Indeed, Dennis and LaVon met, wouldn't you know, in a mental hospital! Dennis took a fancy to LaVon, who says she impressed him with her bowling (130 or so to his 83). But she remained somewhat oblivious to his interest in her until someone pointed out that he kept coming 50 miles out to Elgin to see her. And she thought he just enjoyed being with the group of volunteers! 

LaVon got a better understanding of Dennis' love and persistence when they happened to take a walk along the Kenepocomoco River in the snow, where she slipped and fell and lost a button off her nice new coat. The next morning she found the button sitting outside her door and knew that Dennis had gone back out in the snow early that morning and searched until he found it! 

Over time they got serious about each other and planned a June wedding, a year later. But pretty soon their parents met each other and things went so fast and well that they moved the wedding earlier to December 20, 1954. The fall before the wedding Dennis studied really hard all week, came out on the weekends to be with LaVon, and got the best grades of his life! Of course, the next semester, just after they were married, he got the worst grades of his life. No mystery there! 

They lived in Chicago at the Brethren Seminary for a year and a half until he graduated, while LaVon worked for the Cook County Juvenile Court as a Probation Officer. Then it was off to Denver for a year of internship, and then to Puerto Rico for 3 years of service as a mission doctor. During these first four years, LaVon and Dennis suffered through three difficult pregnancies and the loss of three baby boys due to premature deliveries. But they persevered, and after a successful operation, Wesley was born full-term and healthy in 1959 in Puerto Rico, followed by Kirsten in '61 and Ingrid in '63, both during Dennis' residency in Psychiatry at the prestigious Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas. 

From there, Dennis became a staff psychiatrist and eventually Medical Director of the Mennonite-sponsored Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Elkhart, Indiana. The insert in your bulletin gives an extensive overview of Dennis' professional career. He was known as an innovator in the development of community mental health centers - first in the private sector at Oaklawn and then in the public sector as Medical Director of the San Joaquin County Mental Health Services. In addition Dennis was known and respected for his ability to build effective teams among his staff.

There is no doubt that Dennis found his calling in his life's work. That calling however was also undergirded by the pursuit of his passions. Dennis' passions were numerous - golf, exercise, weather, travel, reading, and keeping up to date in several academic areas, history, philosophy, politics, religion and geography to name a few. His children however recall on numerous occasions his mention of one of his greatest life's passions, his love for his wife, LaVon. While he was ambivalent about many things in his life, he never had any doubts about marrying and being with LaVon. Together they created a partnership that allowed each of them to develop their careers, pursue their dreams, grow as individuals and raise a family. 

Dennis impressed his children with the importance of being a man of integrity, a man who valued education and travel, and a man who devoted his life to the power of the healing presence of human love. Wesley, Kirsten, and Ingrid experienced this power at the family dinner table, during family times where each person was valued and asked to share, as they witnessed his playful, impish side, and as they joined in on the late evening cereal bowl bull sessions. The power of this love to draw families together has been no more evident than in recent months as Wesley, Kirsten, and Ingrid have made numerous trips to be at Dennis' side and to assist LaVon in the administration of his care. 

Early this year tests revealed that Dennis had a large cyst and two brain tumors. After an initial surgery Dennis began radiation treatments with the hope that these treatments would increase his life time among us. In the months that followed Dennis was cared for at St. Joseph's Hospital and Meadowood Health and Rehabilitation Center. Family members. colleagues, friends and church family provided a comforting presence as they visited him there until his death last Sunday, June 4, 2000. 

Dennis Franklin Rupel is survived by his wife LaVon of Stockton, their three children, Wesley, of Redmond, Washington; Kirsten, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Ingrid of Waikele, Hawaii; two sisters, Doris Wimber of Eugene, Oregon; and Joyce Merkl of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Dennis is also survived by a host of friends, colleagues, former students, patients he served, sisters and brothers in Christ, and people of faith around the world who will continue to be living witnesses to the empowering love he shared with many.

Shared by Bonnie Kline Smeltzer
Memorial Services for Dennis F. Rupel
Holy Cross United Methodist Church - Stockton, California
Modesto Church of the Brethren - Modesto, California
June 10 and 11, 2000