Harold Kuper
Harold, 1980's
Harold and his sisters, l-r: Alice Hippen, Edna Iverson, Josephine Speck and
Mikala Iverson.
Probably taken at the same time.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
I find I have no information on Harold and am asking any Kuper with any information about this nice guy to please send it to me for inclusion on his page. There is far more to this man's life than what I have posted. Kind of sad. Let's give him the dignity he has earned and deserves to be shared. I will post your comments on this page. Thanks, barbara
Harold was born Jan. 24, 1918, on the farm in Faulk County. He married Della Walsh, 12 May 1956, in Chamberlain, Brule County, SD. Divorced. One son, Gary.
He served in the US Army during WWII, then returned home only to lose his arm when his car was side-swiped as he was driving with his arm on the window frame of the door. He worked for many years at the state hospital Yankton, retiring in 19 and bought a home near his sister Edna in Ree Heights.
Harold passed away at in 199? at and is buried in the Black Hills National Cemetery at Sturgis, SD.
Gary and his family live in . He is employed
Pictured, l-r: Alice Kuper-Hippen, Edna Kuper-Iverson, Harold, Josephine Kuper-Goehring-Speck, Clarence Kuper and Ethel Hansen-Hall. I took this photo during a visit to Edna's home in Ree Heights in the early 1980's. Alice always spent her summers in SD and the siblings gathered at Edna's home. Harold was dealing with cancer at the time this was taken. If memory serves, it was also during this time that his son Gary, and his family, also came to Ree Heights to spend some time with his father. Harold lived in a small house across the street and to the northeast of Edna.
Jerome said Harold lost his arm because he had it resting on the door and another car came by and tore it off. I think I read the story somewhere. Maybe in the Ree Heights Review. 28 Dec 2008 Martha Kuper, wife of Jerome, daughter-in-law of Henry. Oregon state
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Uncle Harold use to live with us when I was little. He was with us when Delores was born. We lived north of Highmore at the time. He cooked rice and we ended up with a wash boiler full of rice. Maybe that's why we never ate rice after that even though, today I still enjoy a good rice dish. And then he was burning the old varnish off Mom's oak dinning room table with the blow torch an caught the table on fire. Oh what a stink that was but he always could make you laugh 'cause he was such a happy man. Mom would tell about him getting drunk in Harold, SD one winter and he was sitting in front of the grocery store swatting flies and singing something. The last I knew of Gary, he and his family lived in Viborg and he worked for the county. Have you checked on that find a friend web site? Donna Kuper-Spoonemore-Boyda 12.28.08
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Harold told me about this time when he was in the service, (WWII) and they were fighting on one of the islands. The men were told to NEVER take their clothes off because you never knew when the Japs would attack. They had been fighting for about two weeks and had never had their clothes off so one night, Harold and a couple of his buddies decided enough was enough and they chose to undress. Sure enough, that night they were attacked and those three men fought the next two or three days in only their underwear! Ed Speck Dec 2008
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Another war story of Harold's was, again, while fighting on an island, Japs were shooting at them they dropped a bomb and half the hillside disappeared as did the jeep he was hiding behind. Harold said he said, "Well shit, just get me", but thankfully, they didn't! Ed Speck Dec 2008
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From what I remember, Harold was always a good neighbor. He was never unhappy. Once when we were visiting I asked him about his arm. He told me that he never felt sorry for himself because if he did, he would never get anything done. He took me out to a shed where he was building a dresser. I thought it was just beautiful and I was just in awe of him for being able to build that dresser with one arm. He gave me a demonstration of how his hook opened and closed. I really liked him and when Della left I knew she lost a lot more than he did. Ella Speck-Weinberg-Wilcox Jan 20, 2009
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Harold and Alfred farmed together for a while after Alfred and Doris married. Harold had a tendency to pull jokes and tricks on anyone he could. One day when some orphaned baby animals refused to eat, Harold told Doris if she wanted to get them to eat she would have to get down and demonstrate to them how it was done. As she was "teaching" them someone pulled into the yard and caught her with her face by the feeder. She didn't find any humor in being the butt of his trick. Ed Speck, Jan. 2009
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 6:29 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Della had been married before her maiden name was Junkman an they lived in
Pierre her first husband was Bill Walsh a rancher north of Pierre they had a boy
whom runs the ranch Della left when the boy was little. when she left Uncle
Harold she run off with some guy from the State Hospital where they worked at
that was in 1962 cause he wrote me an wanted Howard an I to come to Yankton to
talk to us, Cheryl was a baby an she was born in 62 since he didn't
know her where abouts he had to wait 7 years to get a divorce. Uncle Harold was
always a happy man he spoiled Gary rotten. But if you can't find one check with
the VA as he was in the hospital in Sioux Falls. I use to visit him while he was
there. Karl Kuper came to visit also Hope this helps you and I hope this finds
you both well. Love Donna
I remember that picture an it was Della alright but her last name was Issenbaum Aunt Mae's daughter I'll have to go back thru my pictures cause I have some pictures of Della na Gary togather an get them off to you. Ya ,Uncle Harold was full of it right up to the last hair on his head.
Siblings: Ethel, Edna Lewis, Clarence, Josephine, Alfred, Alice
