Barbara Jane Rupe, 93, passed away on Wednesday July 12, 2023, at the Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. Her funeral will be held on Saturday, July 22nd at 10 am at the Sunset Memorial Chapel, 7601 Fleur Dr, Des Moines. The family will receive friends from 9 am until service time. The burial will be in the Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
Barbara was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne, two sons-in-law, Douglas Kurtz & Nieves Ochoa, Sr. one grandson, Dennis Reed, Jr., two great granddaughters, Lucia & Lily Rupe, two brothers and three sisters.
She is survived by her children, Roberta (Kenny) Reed, Raymond (Deborah) Rupe, Rhonda Kurtz, Russell (Kathy) Rupe, sixteen grandchildren, thirty-six great-grandchildren and nine great great-grandchildren, as well as several nieces and nephews.
Barbara was born Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1929, the sixth child of Chester and Essie McCullough. Growing up she lived in many places in Iowa, Wisconsin and even Flagstaff, Arizona during the summer months and came back to Des Moines to go to school in the fall.
Barbara wanted to be a medical missionary. She read books on nurses, China and how life should be. She went to nursing training and that is where she met Wayne Rupe, her future husband. They later got married and were blessed with four children.
Barbara had the honor of being the first member of a group of nurses to go through a Minister of Health Class held at Lutheran Hospital. She was able to go to Haiti as a short-term missionary. She was chosen by a board of Quaker women to attend a Woman in Ministry conference in England at the Quaker Study Center in Birmingham. Only seventy-five women across the world were chosen to attend.
Barbara was a good Christian. She had a great relationship with God and her faith got her and her family through so much in their lives. She wrote that life was not easy, but she believed no matter what, God was always right there beside her. She believed God guided her, if she listened, at all times and in all ways.
Memorials may be directed to the family for causes dear to Barbara.
