James John Ruppenthal (Jim)

Memory wall

1 tribute has been left in memory of James John Ruppenthal (Jim).

• brian0017

  I met Jim while attending Greenland Elementary School in Oconomowoc Wisconsin. My earliest recollection of Jim is playing tetherball on the playground in 4th grade as we worked our way to “A” court. A friendship was formed and we remained close through High School. Numerous experiences during those formultive years; Vehicles into the swamp, skiing off the Fowler Dam, to name a couple. Parental head scratching and a lot of laughs were the norm. We lacked supervision, but didn’t we all? Or was it part of our parents plan all along to learn from these experiences?We came up with all sorts of mischief’s schemes. We sailed, rode motorcycles, Ice raced each other in Dune Buggies. Pioneering the sport of Windsurfing in the Midwest. We took our zest for sailing and adventure to the next level and did a month trip out to California (five of us in a borrowed van) to see what impact we might have on the windsurfing scene. Life was grand.Adventure on Jim, adventure on!

Keep exploring

See more memorials on the tributes index, or browse cemeteries and burial plots on the interactive map.