RIP - John D Rupe - Died Dec. 12, 1933

John Rupe's daughter, Lucille Adair of Hubbard, Ore., wrote of her memories of that day.

"Dad awoke at 1:25 a.m. (on Dec. 12, 1933)and got mom out of bed to fix his breakfast so he would not be late for work. He had been out of work for several months, and needed the job as he had four children still at home. He insisted that he had to get up and go to work, he was very adamant about getting to work. Word came to us later that the men were picked up in army blankets and therefore the caskets would not be opened at the funeral due to the fact that the only way to identify the men were from personal effects found."

They found dad's watch which had not been damaged other than the crystal was broken, which stopped the watch at the time of the accident."

George Rupe, son of John Rupe, was 20 years old when the accident occurred. He had been working at Lincoln-Park that day. Rex Howell came to him to bring him the news. Rex was the owner of KREX KJCT Radio in Grand Junction (that later became KREX TV)gave George $2 for gas, so he could go to Glade Park to be with his mother. They had a large family, now left without a father.

Guy Carlucci remarked "I knew in my mind from what I had been told that Uncle known as Unk Lawrence and Aunt Lodi, owners of the Glade Park store, made sure that none of the victim's children or anyone else did go hungry."
--- From""The Untold Story of the Rimrock Drive and The Men History Forgot" by Guy Carlucci.

Thanks to the Carlucci family for giving permission for us to use pictures and quotes from Guy's book to memorialize the men who died in the half-funnel cave-in on Dec. 12, 1922.

Thanks to Jack Murphy, descendent of John D Rupe, for the effort he has put into raising awareness of the 80th anniversary of the tragedy of the half-tunnel cave-in.