Robert Ralph Kepple
Jul 26, 1925 – Apr 03, 2014
Robert R. Kepple, 88 died of cancer April 3, 2014, at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Louisa. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph C. Kepple of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and had lived in Louisa County since 1986.After growing up in Altoona, Mr. Kepple was drafted into the Army during World War II. He served in a special intelligence unit that operated between the German and American Lines and was awarded two Bronze Star Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge, three Battle Stars, and a French decoration for his heroism.After the war, Mr. Kepple earned a B.S. degree in mathematics from Pennsylvania State University and a masters’ degree in library science from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Among other positions in his long career as a technical librarian, he directed the library at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria and The R. E. Gibson Library of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland.Upon retirement, Mr. Kepple, together with one of his sons, pioneered a homestead near Mineral, and he and his wife lived there for many years,Mr Kepple leaves behind his wife, Beatrice; two sons, Laurence and Stephen; their wives, Debby and Shelia, respectively; and two grandsons, Timothy and Daniel.Arrangements were made by Woodward Funeral Home, Louis, VA. Mr. Kepple was buried with honors at the Quantico National Cemetery.
I was honored to befriend your wonderful father/ grandfather while he resided at the McGuire Veteran`s Hospital. I met him several years ago when I was at the annual Christmas party hosted by the hospital`s dept. for the blind and vision impaired. I had taken another friend, who is blind, to the hospital to sing Christmas carols. She and I became friends with Mr. K.” as we called him. We asked if we could come back and visit and he said we could. We visited every couple of months and brought his favorite Starbucks coffee. When he knew we were coming he would prepare poems to recite and share with us special memories of his life and his time in the war. He was so eloquent and delightful we always treasured our time with him. He often spoke about his wonderful family and I know you miss him and now your dear mother/grandmother so very much. Please accept my heartfelt sympathy. I am so grateful I had the opportunity and honor to know your father.Sincerely Terri Topinka”
Dearest Dad,We know you are in a better place now, united with your beloved wife and your dear dog Keela. We will miss and love you every day of the lives that remain to us . . . then we hope to join you in the eternal beyond.Terri, thank you so much for your kind thoughts and fond reminiscences. Dad really was a special man and a true representative of he greatest generation ” as they are called. My brother who has a Ph.D. from Harvard says that Dad was the smartest man he ever knew. He also had a big heart. Thanks to you and the many others at the McGuire VA who helped make his final years happier and healthier than they would otherwise have been.My mom died just 8 days after Dad did. They were that close even though they could no longer live together because my dad had to be at McGuire.Stephen Kepple”
I read a lot of interesting content here. Probably you spend a lot of time writing, i know how to save you a lot of work, there is an online tool that creates unique, SEO friendly articles in seconds,just type in google – laranitas free content source