Jack RAMPELBERG

RAMPELBERG, PLETCHER, GIBSON, MARINO, TAYLOR, DAVALOS, BENNETT, LITTLE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/26/2008 at 11:28:41

Jack Rampelberg, 82, of Havre died Monday, June 14, 2004, at a Havre [Montana] hospital of natural causes. An evening celebration service will be 7 p.m. today at the Fifth Avenue Christian Church. His memorial service will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Fifth Avenue Christian Church with the Rev. Rowlie Hutton officiating. The burial will be 4 p.m. Saturday at the Highland Cemetery in Mystic, Iowa.

Jack was born on Feb. 22, 1922, to Victor and Nevada Rampelberg in the town of Mystic, Iowa. He lived in Mystic with his parents until attending Coe college in Cedar Rapids. He was involved in sports and attended college on a football scholarship. Jack met his wife to be, Lois Alberta Pletcher, while in Cedar Rapids, and they were married in 1941. They began their married life near family members in Dearborn, Mich., where Jack was employed as a plumber. In 1943, they returned to Clarion, Iowa, where Jack farmed with his father-in-law, Burt Pletcher. In 1944, Jack volunteered for the Army and served with an infantry unit in France and Germany near the end of World War II. He returned to the farm after the war and ran a plumbing business on the side for a number of years. In 1955, Jack chose to be come a minister and began traveling to Minneapolis each week to attend Minnesota Bible College. In 1956, he had a farm auction and answered the call to become minister of the Rowan Congregational Church in Rowan, Iowa. He graduated with honors from MBC in 1960 and began the process of building a new church facility in Rowan. He also continued his education by traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, where he completed studies for a master's degree from Drake University. In 1962, with the urging of his brother-in-law, Jerry Gibson, he accepted the call to become minister of the Sixth Avenue Church Christian Church in Havre.

In 1968, he moved to Morton, Ill., where he was minister of Morton Christian Church for two years, while he completed a master of divinity degree from Lincoln Bible Seminar in Springfield, Ill. He returned to ministry with Sixth Avenue Christian Church in 1970. He became the minister at Northwest Christian Church in Champaign, Ill., in 1975. He also served in ministry at the Urbana Christian Church Urbana, Ill., in 1977 and the Clinton Christian Church at Clinton, Ill., in 1986. In 1991, he taught church administration at Nebraska Christian College in Norfolk, Neb., and in 1992, he returned to the ministry at Sixth Avenue Christian Church in Havre - the place he called home and the people he called family. Jack loved life and being around people. In his youth, he loved contact sports and often played tackle football without pads. He liked to box, and while in the Army carried a pair of leather gloves in his back pocket in just in case a good fight got started. He had one false tooth in front when he was discharged. During his farming years, he became a Christian and got involved with the Clarion Christian Church in Clarion, Iowa, where he taught Sunday School, sang in a men's quartet and served as a deacon and an elder before becoming a minister. During his college years, he would drive 150 miles or so on Monday morning to the college and back home on Thursday to attend to church and family details. He usually did not get much sleep. During his ministry years, he was a mentor to everyone and was known as an outstanding teacher and counselor. His sermons were biblically based and dealt with issues in a direct and sometimes uncomfortable manner. He worked hard to develop younger people into leaders who possessed an in-depth bible knowledge and a strong spiritual relationship with their God. Through his witness and teaching, he led an untold number of people to Christ. His wisdom and influence touched thousands of lives. During his years of ministry, he envisioned and completed two church facilities. He started a seniors ministry that was a church within a church. It focused mainly on people who were retired and looking for a church relationship that fit their individual needs. His success became known and he attended a number of events and meetings where he taught others how to begin the process. He was also involved in community projects wherever he was located. Perhaps the most significant was the time spent with the group that developed the present site and facility that houses the Northern Montana Hospital and adjacent health care facilities.

His first wife, Lois, died in 1983, and he married Shirley Taylor in 1986. She was his best friend and constant companion until his death. Jack was preceded in death by his parents, Victor and Nevada Rampelberg, and his first wife, Lois Rampelberg. Survivors include his wife, Shirley Rampelberg of Havre; children from his marriage with Lois, Bruce (Sandee) Rampelberg of Rapid City, S.D., Mike (Diane) Rampelberg of San Jose, Calif., Jerry (Cynnie) Rampelberg of Sausalito, Calif., Susan (Joe) Marino of Dunlap, Ill., John (Robin) Rampelberg of Morton, Ill.; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; the children he shared with Shirley, Wesley (Cathy) Taylor of Freeberg, Ill., Phil (Brenda) Taylor of Peoria, Ill., Mark (Barbara) Davalos of Salem, Ore., June Bennett of Tuscola, Ill.; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; sister, Betty Little of Englewood, Fla.; and brother, Victor Rampelberg of Jacksonville, Fla.

Services and arrangements are under the direction of Holland and Bonine Funeral Home.Memorials may be made to the Christian Life Center at Fifth Avenue Christian Church.

Havre Daily News, MT
June 17, 2004