Obituary of Mary Rippke

A funeral service for Mary Rippke, age 67, of Okoboji, will be held Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 2:00pm at First Lutheran Church in West Okoboji. Visitation will be on Monday, April 20, 2015 after 4:00pm with the family present from 5:00-7:00pm at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Burial will be at Arlington Cemetery in Moville, Iowa on Wednesday, April 22nd, at 11:00AM. Mary Joan Rippke, the daughter of Clara (Rock) and Leonard Rippke, was born June 10, 1947 in Sioux City, Iowa. She graduated from Woodbury Central High School and received her BS in Nursing from Augustana College. She continued her education at Arizona State University, receiving her masters degree. Mary worked in Seattle before returning to the Midwest. She worked in Fairmont Minnesota for Martin County and then moved to Rochester, Minnesota where she was the Director of Public Health Nursing for Olmsted County. She then became Director of Nursing for the Minnesota Department of Health for about ten years. Mary then worked for the MDH district office in Mankato as a consultant for much of southern Minnesota. After retiring, she worked on a contract basis on state and local public health issues. Mary had a huge passion for public health and rural communities and received many recognitions for her service. She was an active member of the First Lutheran Church in West Okoboji and was involved in community garden, prayer shawl ministry, Stephen ministry and served as a parish nurse. Mary also was a short-term missionary to Tanzania and Chile. She enjoyed gardening, reading, knitting, traveling, cooking and walking along the lake. Mary passed away unexpectedly after a short illness on April 17, 2015 at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at sixty-seven years of age. She is survived by two brothers, Jon (Cheryl) Rippke and Paul (Carolyn) Rippke; one sister, Lenise (Rick) Waples; nieces and nephews, Laura (John) Legatt, Sarah (Glen) Lloyd, Philip (Ruth Beerman) Rippke, Anne (Jeff) Salasek, Mark Rippke, Gregory (Kelly) Waples and Thomas (Krista) Waples; "grand" nieces and "grand" nephews, Johnny and Aubrey Legatt, Gabe Salasek and Katherine Waples; aunt, Norma Dallen, aunt, Hope Stein and several cousins and friends.