Jack Harman Rupe

– Jack Harman Rupe, of Moiese, passed away from natural causes at 94 years of age on Sunday, July 20, 2014, at The Pines of Mission in St. Ignatius.

Jack was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on Sept. 10, 1919, to Beatrice and Harman Rupe and was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Don Rupe; sisters, Marie Sanders and Bettie June Davis; and his wife of 66 years, Harriet. Jack attended Wyandotte High School in Kansas City and received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1941 from Kansas State College in Manhattan, Kansas. He and his family lived in Sunland, California, in a home he built by himself until moving to Moiese in 1976.

Jack was a brilliant engineer who received numerous awards and patents for his work in the fields of rocketry and internal combustion engines. At the pinnacle of his career, he received the Apollo Achievement Award and the Exceptional Achievement Medal from NASA for his contribution to the perfection of the Apollo rocket engines – allowing the U.S. to place a man on the moon. During World War II, Jack received a patent for an improved mine flotation system. Later he received a patent for a self-designed miles per gallon meter. Working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Jack developed a system for extracting and then injecting hydrogen gas into gasoline that dramatically increased mileage while reducing emissions in automobile engines. Jack is still recognized for his work in hydrogen-enriched combustion and received the NASA Certificate of Recognition in 1976 for his work. Up until his death, Jack was attempting to perfect a radical, friction-free design for the internal combustion engine that would increase mileage by nearly 50 percent. Not surprisingly, Jack passed on the 45th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing.

After serving two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II as the gunnery officer on the USS Copehee, an aircraft carrier support ship, Jack joined the Douglas Aircraft Co. and began his passion for perfecting liquid-propelled rocket engines. Jack spent most of his working career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, beginning work there in 1949. Jack directed the Combustion Research Group, commonly known as "The Rupe Group" where he perfected the atomization of propellants in liquid rocket engines.

After achieving most of his professional goals, Jack decided to leave JPL and buy a 500-acre irrigated cattle ranch in Moiese, where he applied his knowledge of liquid behavior to the challenging and complex task of moving irrigation pipe. Jack worked and lived, and worked some more, on the ranch for nearly 40 years, first raising cattle, and then shifting to farming wheat, barley and alfalfa. Jack loved the ranching life and left a wonderful legacy of hard work and dedication to the land.

Jack was an avid backpacker and fly-fisherman and, although he does not hold the patent, he practically invented family backpacking. When his youngest was only 6 years old, Jack took his wife and four kids on a lifetime adventure backpacking the Grand Canyon. Since this was in 1959, and there were no backpacks for young people, Jack had to weld aluminum frames together and hang war surplus canvas bags on them. The family spent 14 days hiking from "rim to rim, and back again." A few years later, while packing with the family in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in Montana, he met a group of dignitaries including Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and the chief of the U.S. Forest Service. They were so impressed with Jack's knowledge of family backpacking, they sanctioned a Forest Service pamphlet to help other's start – and the sport of family backpacking was born.

Jack is survived by his daughters, Jacqui Tolin and Barbara Wehrheim; his sons, Bret and Wade; 11 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. The family will be having a private memorial at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Disabled American Veterans or a charity of your choice.

Jack is remembered by his children with the following quotes:

"No son of mine will ever have a ducktail."

"You'll never have a flat with those big tires."

"I'll be in the garage."

"You don't need it; you want it."

"Stop fighting it and swim downstream for a while."

"Leave a forest."

"This is a graphical representation of the axial-mass flow distribution of a pair of impinging streams.
Read Jack Rupe's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.