Remembering Minnesota

A Collection of Photos, Poems and Writings

Donald Gene Rupp was born in 1941 in St. Charles, Missouri. After graduating from St. Charles High School in 1959, he attended Northeast Missouri State University(now Truman State University), where he received a Bachelor of Science in Education with a major in Music Education and a minor in English. Four years later, he received a Master of Education from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He taught instrumental music at the elementary and secondary level for thirty-eight years in three different school systems in Missouri.Thirty-five of those years were spent in the Columbia Public School System. During his tenure there he received the Outstanding Junior High Educator award in 1982, and in 1987, was honored as Columbia's Teacher of the Year. He and his wife Marge, have been married for 37 years and have two daughters, Carol and Julie. His interest in nature photography began in 1975. Since then he has visited and photographed many of the nation's national parks. He has received several local and national awards with his photography. In 1980, he and his family first visited Minnesota. Since that time they have returned every year for numerous visits. His love of wildlife and the natural beauty of Minnesota have inspired him to write about the feelings he experienced during those years.

Book Description

At first glance, Don Rupp's "Remembering Minnesota" may seem to be simply a narrative of photo's and poems celebrating a place of escape and respite from the workday world. But on closer examination, it becomes clear that Rupp, an award winning photographer, is not leading us on an escape, but rather to a destination.

The photographs and writings in "Remembering Minnesota" describe, with straightforward eloquence, the substance of that destination - the spirituality of nature, the sacraments of familial love and of friendships, and the peace that is to be found in the realization of these things.

Don Rupp's book is a reminder of the uncommon goodness and grace that is contained in common experience. And of how blessed we are to have places like his "Minnesota", places to hold in our moments, in our memories and in our hearts.