Cleo Rupp of Carmel passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, November 1st, 2018. She was born in Cimarron, KS and grew up during the "dust bowl" years on a wheat farm in western Kansas. Cleo rode a horse to school until she and her sister got a Model A to drive to high school. When she was fifteen years old her family loaded up a flat bed truck and moved to Canyon City, Colorado. Cleo claimed the truck looked like the Grapes of Wrath truck. She and her sister followed in a car behind trying to keep a distance so no one would know they belonged with the truck.

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After college in Pueblo, Cleo ended up working for AT&T in Denver and then moved to San Diego to be with the war effort. It was there she met her future husband Elmer Rupp. During their dating days he suggested they attend church together which she felt was very important. After the war they moved to Elmer's hometown of Elkhart, Indiana. She was the Sunday school superintendent for Grace Lutheran Church for fifteen years.

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One of Cleo's favorite activities was traveling. She and Elmer and sometime their son Mike would travel to Europe, the South Pacific, Spain, Morocco and her most cherished place, Austria. Cleo and Elmer provided support to a Tanzanian student though a Lutheran mission and went to visit him in Africa and spent time with their son Mike on Safari. After Elmer retired in 1988 they moved to Carmel to be closer to their son Mike who lived in Concord.

She was an accomplished seamstress and knitter and made over 100 blankets for a Children's Linus Project. She was also a life member of the MPVS (Monterey Peninsula Volunteer Services). She is survived by her son Mike.

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A special thank you to Dr. Glenn E. Hudgens & Dr. David A. Clark & their staffs as well as the VNA Hospice staff, Britta, Anna, & Joyce and Cleo's longtime caregiver Eva.