Jerry Rupert

Mary Geraldine (Jerry) Rupert was born on January 3, 1925, to Helen (FitzGibbons) and Hugh Maguire. She was the eldest of nine children. She began school in 1930 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, which is now Bishop John Carroll School. Jerry was the oldest of the 9 children in a rollicking Irish-Catholic family that lived in a 3 bedroom house (on 31st Street near Our Lady's Cathedral) along with her beloved Uncle Charley FitzGibbons, a builder, who built the house. One bedroom was for the parents, the second one was for Uncle Charley, and the third was for the three girls -- the six boys slept on the porch out back. The 12 people living there shared one bathroom. A child of the Great Depression, Jerry sewed all her own clothes as a young girl and later as a young mother. Throughout life, Jerry would never waste food; leftover rice from dinner was served cold in the morning as "breakfast cereal," with milk, sugar and cinnamon poured over it. Her childhood Christmases were during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years; gifts were sparse, perhaps an apple from her parents, or maybe a Hersey's chocolate bar from her Uncle Charley. As her memory failed her in later years, one memory deeply implanted in her mind and heart was that, when presented with a Hersey's bar and asked, "Who used to give you a Hersey's bar?" Her response was immediate: "Uncle Charley." As the oldest, she helped raise her 8 younger brothers and sisters, and in later life, each continually loved and honored and respected her. Despite occasional feuds and spats within this family (which generated two lawyers, one doctor, one dentist, one hospital administrator, and a business tycoon), her home was always a meeting place for all the family at Christmas time; no matter what temporary and passing resentment may arise from time to time within this family, they all came to see their beloved big sister, Jerry. Jerry would tell you that she was raised in a time when "men went to college and began careers" and women "got married." When her beautiful and beloved younger sister Julia, known as Rooney, married earlier than Jerry, Jerry would tell you that she felt as if she was the "old maid" within the family. A tough, keenly intelligent, and more than a little stubborn woman, Jerry resolved to obtain an education and a career. She entered St. Anthony School of Nursing in September 1942. (The original St. Anthony's Hospital was built by her Uncle Charley). She obtained her R.N., and for the rest of her life, she was the functional equivalent of a medical doctor – she had a deep understanding of biology, chemistry and biochemistry, and many was the time over the years that she saved the life of a family member because a doctor's diagnosis did not pass her inquiry. Were she born 50 years later, in 1975, it seems likely she would have gone to medical school and have become a doctor. In 1945, her senior year, certain students were selected and offered the opportunity to work for six months in Army hospitals as Cadet Nurses. Jerry and four others selected Harmon General Army Hospital in Longview, Texas in March 1945, thinking they would join the Army after graduation in September 1945. After World War II ended in August 1945, however, no more nurses were recruited or accepted into the armed services. Throughout World War II, Jerry and Stanley Rupert had corresponded while he was in the Navy aboard the USS Sapelo. All of their love letters are still in the waterproof plastic container she kept them in. They were married at Our Lady's Cathedral on June 7, 1947. This was a marriage for the ages; they deeply loved one another, and formed an unbreakable partnership. They had six children: Mary Ann, 1948, who died in May 1955; Kathleen Louise Collier, Erie, Colorado; Pamela Susan Van Swearingen, Seattle, Washington; Anton Joseph (Tony), Oklahoma City; Kurt Maguire, Oklahoma City; and Liza Marianne Rupert-Toval, Miami, Florida. The death of their daughter, Mary Ann, at age 8, was the hardest event of Jerry's life. She once recounted that she was so grief-stricken that she saw no reason to go on living, but then one day her beloved husband, Stanley, told her that they would never talk of Mary Ann again from that moment forward, and that is what they did. Four months later, their first son, Tony, was born, and a new door of life opened. Of course, they did talk of Mary Ann again, and even gave her name as a middle name to their sixth and last child, Liza Marianne, but Jerry believed that Stanley saved her life on that day of his grim insistence. Jerry worked for Oklahoma City Public Schools as a school nurse. She worked at Hoover Middle School, Stonegate Elementary, and Quail Creek Elementary most of her school career. During that time, she returned to school at Central State College (now University of Central Oklahoma). She graduated with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a master's degree in Guidance and Counseling, both with honors. Jerry was a school nurse, but she was simultaneously an unofficial counselor to the students. Many of them returned over the years to her family Christmas parties. Jerry's beloved partner, Stanley, went to the University of Oklahoma when he returned from Navy service. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Accounting. Later he returned to college at Oklahoma City University and received a master's degree in Business Administration. During the Korean War, he went back in the Navy and was stationed in New Orleans, and while there Jerry and Stanley developed a life-long love of that city, fondly remembering trips to the New Orleans Zoo with their daughter Mary Ann, and a particular monkey that always recognized them and would motion to them to come near when they arrived. Stanley taught for several years at OCU. He worked at Kerr-McGee as a senior accountant until he passed away on April 28, 1982. When Stanley passed away, at the premature age of 57, Jerry faced her second dark passage in life. But her beloved brothers and sisters, and her children filled her life with contact. In particular, she and her sister Toddy became almost inseparable, going "garage-sailing" on Saturday mornings, and many were the times her brother Bo or her brother Phil came by the house on a Friday evening to share a glass of wine with their two sisters. When work needed to be done on her house, her brother Mac, a builder among other things, made sure it was done immediately and done right. She also filled her life by continuing to work as a school nurse, and later by reading books for the blind, and by teaching English to recent immigrants, and by working with students at Bishop John Carroll School who needed extra help with learning to read. From these many contacts, she developed a broad spectrum of friends (Jane, Phyllis, and Loralann, Carrie Ryan-Garrett to name some) who so loved her, who were often seen at her house. After Stanley's death she began a diet and exercise regimen that involved walking 3 miles a day, and eating a very clean diet – she called it "living on roots and berries." She was remarkably strong and vibrant and mowed her own lawn until she was 83 years old. But her 83rd year began a series of health declines, with a fall that broke her femur. Because of her age, doctors said she might never walk again, but were then surprised at how soon she was up and walking again. Between the age of 83 and 90, she suffered three falls, breaking each hip and then fracturing her pelvis. But after each one, she learned to get back up and walk. At age 90, she could still walk, slowly but unassisted. Jerry is survived by Tony and Barbara Rupert, their children Nicholas, Jacob and Benjamin Rupert; Kurt and Marcia Rupert, their children Emma, Madelyn (Maddy) and Stanley Austin Rupert; Robert and Lisa Rupert-Toval, their children Giovan and Giulietta Rupert-Toval; Kathy and Matthew Collier and their son Joshua; Pamela and Steve Van Swearingen and their children Garret and Ingrid . To her grandchilden, Jerry was "Granny." She chose that name, and she never said why, but her children believe it was because she shared the tough, pugnacious spirit with the character on the television show, "The Beverly Hillbillies," as well a similar hairstyle in her later years. She spent so many days with her grandchildren and so loved each of them for their individual traits. Perhaps her very happiest times were the huge family vacations at Surfside Beach, Texas, that began in 1964 with just her husband and children, but then evolved over the next 50 years to be an annual event that included her children and their children – 14 people together in one big boisterous house, sharing meals and laughter and conversation together. It was so many people that some of the boys had to sleep on the sofas, or on the porch. But this time there were two bathrooms. Five of Jerry's siblings, Judy (Rooney) Wheat, Hugh F. (Bo) Maguire, Malcolm J. (Mac) Maguire, Anna Catherine (Toddy) Ryan, and, Anthony F. (Tony) Maguire have all passed away. They were all beloved by Jerry, and she by them. Her surviving brothers are Charley Maguire of Fort Worth, Texas, and Bill Maguire and Philip J. Maguire of Oklahoma City.