Saturday,
July 5, 2003
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94-year-old enjoys coming to the table
By KIMBERLEE ROHRER
Goshen College Saturday, July 5, 2003
Rupp, who attends First Mennonite in Denver, Colo., said she believes it is “important for Christian people to be together to be strengthened and work together. That’s why I am glad I came.” Rupp was given the chance to travel to Atlanta as a gift from her children, Carla and Larry, and grandson, Jason. Carla, who met her mother at the airport, said this is the first convention her mother has attended since Wichita ’95. Friends and family said they continue to delight in Marie Rupp’s presence because she is such a joy and always wants to make others happy. “That is my purpose in living,” she said, “and in the future my purpose won’t change.” Rupp is encouraged to see so many young people here, believing it is important for youth today to grow up Christian. She offered this advice: “Never live all to yourself” and “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” – her favorite Bible verse. For older convention-goers, Rupp said, “You’re never too old to come here and to serve Christ.” Despite struggling through life with the after-effects of childhood polio, Rupp said that “Jesus gives me the strength and ambition to keep living.” She added, “I am whole because Christ helps me be whole.” Rupp claims that her life has been “nothing special.” She grew up in Kansas but currently resides in Westminister, Colo., where she is the resident president for Clear Creek Care Home. Earlier in life, Rupp attended Bethel College where she edited The Collegian. She continued her studies at the University of Chicago to become a social worker. She later married a Kansas wheat farmer, Carl Rupp, who died in March. “I’ll never give up, because I am what I am,” Rupp said at the end of the interview. “I am what I am because I have a deep strength in Jesus Christ.”  |
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