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Today's Featured Biography

 
Leon Rupert

A good portion of you know me, I am the skinny obnoxious kid from school. Who loved to run, I did Cross Country and Track and was Ok I think
After I graduated High school I went to Worthington State junior College and still participated in Track and Cross Country. I dropped out for one quarter because I was paying for a good portion of my schooling and needed to make some more money. Well that one quarter was all Uncle Sam needed to send me my draft notice. I came to the conclusion I did not want to crawl on my belly thru the rice paddies in Viet Nam I figured better to fly to work than to march so I joined the United States Air Force. I ended up liking it so much I stayed in for 20 years and 4 months. During that time I served all over the world Istarted at Minot AFB, ND, from there went to Ching Chuan Kang AFB, Taiwan, Came Back Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City SD, from there went to Korat Thailand, came back to Nellis AFB Nevada, home of the USAF Thunderbirds, from there to Whiteman AFB, Mo, there to RAF Greenham Common in the UK about 50 miles west of London, Then to Homestead AFB, Miami Florida that is where I retired from at 39 years old. At which time I retired and moved to the Kansas City area where My in laws lived owned my own carpet dyeing and cleaning Franchise for 2 years and did good considering that Rainbow International would not let me expand my assigned territory, I had to much for one person and not enough for two people so I sold it and went to work for and Employee owned company called Inland Truck Parts and Service and worked for them for 22 years. They were great.
I was married to my wonderful wife on the 27th of December 1970 we were married for 44 years and damned good years. We had two children a son Named Michael and a daughter named Katy, and I now have 6 beautiful grandkids ranging in age from 22 to 15.
My wife Liz she passed away in 2011 it was the hardest day of my life but I just keep remembering all the good times. My Daughter and her 4 kids finally talked me into retireing in 2012 It took them a year to do it. I told my boss the first work day of 2013 that I was retireing on 31 December so he had a years notice. I retired and moved to Topeka Kansas bought a small house just for me with a garage I have turned into a workshop cause I love to tinker fixing broken things and building whatever comes to my mind.
The most amazing thing that happened to me was, most of you probably did not know that I was adopted my parents never hid it from me they were great parents and I love them dearly. But when my mother passed in 2005 she told my wife to continue the search that she wanted me to find my birth family. My wife was doing it but didn't get it done she told me before she passed and I never thought about it again until I got a call from Lutheran Social Services in Minnesota and they said they had found my two sisters still alive. I have been and they have been spending almost all of our spare time up in the Cities or them down here in Topeka. And along with them I have 7 nieces and nephews along with all of thier Kids and more cousins than I can count and they all live up around Lake Millacs. So I have been getting to know a completely new family for the last three years and loving everyminute of it.
Enough of me which you are all probably tired of reading by now so I will close and can't wait to see you all at the reunion

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