Prairie View, KS resident Wayne K. Rupke passed away Tuesday, August 18, 2020, at the Norton County Hospital, Norton, KS at the age of 76.
He was born October 9, 1943, in Norton, KS the son of Walter J. and Freda L. (Schemper) Rupke. He graduated from high school in Prairie View. He went on to graduate from Fort Hays University with a degree in Industrial Arts.
Wayne was a part of the last draft for the Vietnam War in 1969 and served in the US Army.
Following his discharge he attended Northwest Kansas Technical College in Goodland and completed the plumbing program.
He began working for the State of Kansas at the Hospital for handicapped in Norton in the maintenance department and continued when it became the Norton Corrections Facility. He later retired after 34 years there.
He met his wife at a Western Auto store in Norton and was later united in marriage to Leeta JoAnn Michael on April 28, 1979, at the Luctor Christian Reformed Church.
They were blessed with two children. Wayne loved to travel and enjoyed many trips with his wife as a result of her sales for a company she worked with at the time. She survives.
Wayne used his education to remodel and add onto his home In Prairie View and his plumbing knowledge served many of the folks in his hometown.
Wayne suffered the last ten years with complications from West Niles virus; later contracting diabetes and a heart condition which was determined to be a result of his service in Vietnam. Wayne was not a man who complained, but suffered much. In recent months he lost some of his toes and endured much discomfort. He is finally with no pain. We will miss him.
Wayne is survived by his wife JoAnn of the home in Prairie View, his son Vance M. Rupke of Jennings, KS; daughter, Emma A. Rupke of Topeka, KS; two sisters, Shirley (Art) Henrickson of Logan, KS and Wanda (Doug) Rahjes of Kensington, KS, many cousins, nephews and nieces.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, August 22, 2020 at the Prairie View Reformed Church, Prairie View, KS, with Pastor Lew VanDerWege officiating. The services will be streamed live on the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel FaceBook page. Burial with military honors will follow in the Prairie View Cemetery.
Wayne will lie in state from noon until 9 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday with the family receiving friends Friday evening from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. all at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, 1115 2nd St., Phillipsburg, KS 67661.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Prairie View Cemetery Fund.