Kenneth Allen Rappe

Obituary Kenneth Allen Rappe November 1, 1943 - December 31, 2010 Kenneth Allen Rappe was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 1, 1943. During his childhood, he was almost always the smallest and youngest in his class, and it took him until fourth grade to learn to read. Thanks to an attentive and caring teacher, of whom he always spoke fondly to his kids, he came to value learning and reading. Throughout his life, he always seemed to have some piece of knowledge to offer on a subject at hand. After fourth grade, he was always a good, if not diligent, student. He graduated from St. Paul's Lutheran School and went on to Taft High School. There he distinguished himself as one of the rare students who rode a bike to school. After graduation, he wasn't sure of the direction his life should take, and being a patriotic American, he decided to volunteer for the Navy. It wasn't until he got his first paycheck that he realized that volunteering for the military didn't mean quite the same thing as volunteering at church. The Navy gave him clothes, food, a place to live, AND a paycheck. The Navy was a turning point in Ken's life. He learned to get along in close quarters, gained a sense of independence, and traveled the world on a light cruiser. His ship accompanied an Admiral, so he saw all the best ports in Asia and had a lot of time to experience life outside the United States. While in the Navy he met Gordon Wright, who introduced Ken to Japan and became a life-long friend. Ken never lost his love for Japan. After he left the Navy, he enrolled in Northern Illinois University at DeKalb, Illinois. There he came into his own as a ladies' man. He met his first wife, Nancy Giesen, and married her in April 1970. Their marriage brought them to Denver and gave the world two wonderful people, Steven and Jennifer. He went to work for the Colorado State Auditors Office in the mid-1970s and stayed there for over 15 years. Ken and Nancy divorced in the early 1980s, and Ken spent the next few years reverting to his ladies' man persona, looking for the perfect stepmom for Steven and Jennifer. He met the love of his life through a newspaper ad. Older Denverites may remember Up the Creek, which was more a lonely hearts rag than a newspaper. Francha Menhard, recently returned from working for thee years in Japan, found Ken's ad before she got to post her own: ""American Geisha, trained in Japan… ."" Ken always felt lucky he met her before she published that; he always figured he would never have had a chance. But, not true. It was love at first sight. That doesn't mean that the first date was without incident. Ken and Francha met at the Sakura Festival in downtown Denver. Ken came alone, wearing a Hong Kong t-shirt Jenny picked out for him to wear. Francha arrived with a contingent of Japanese-speaking bodyguards, Aikido masters all, in case Ken turned out to be a skebe ji san (creep). He didn't, and within weeks, he and Francha were an item. The rest was almost 25 years of beautiful history. It took Ken and Francha about three months to move in together. It took Francha about two months to fall in love with Steven and Jenny. It took another three months before Francha's dachshund Liebchen arrived from Texas and became the family dog. The Rappe house has had dachshunds ever since. At the end of Francha's first school year, Ken and Francha traveled to Asia, visiting her old haunts in Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong, and even took a side trip to Beijing -- not an easy thing to do in those days. They left with two tiny bags and returned with four suitcases full of business suits and custom ski outfits. Ken was hooked, and they both knew traveling would alwaysbe high on the agenda. In 1989, Ken moved from the State Auditor's Office to the Colorado Lottery and thought he had died and gone to heaven. His new job was more play than work, he said, and every day felt like a party. That same year, he found out that something was wrong with his brain. An MRI showed that his brain looked like a sponge. Doctor after doctor, no one could figure out what was wrong. Mad Cow Disease? Wilson's? They settled on a rare form of Multiple Sclerosis, but that didn't seem to fit either. It would take 14 more years before Ken got a correct diagnosis. His family watched him decline slowly. Meanwhile, Ken and Francha kept working, traveling, and living life to its fullest. Ken stayed involved in Steven's scouting and took the kids camping every chance he had, sharing his love of the outdoors with them. He took the kids on road trips and made sure they met their cousins and understood the value of family. Steve earned a spot on the Junior Ski Patrol at Winter Park in 1990, and the family spent every other weekend skiing. Ken and Francha hosted exchange students from Germany and Japan and sponsored brother and sister refugees from Ethiopia. Ken watched Jenny play soccer, attended her swim meets during high school, and helped her go to France in 10th grade, where she got hooked on seeing the world. In 1992, a deer jumped on the car Francha was driving and she suffered a traumatic brain injury. Afterward they liked to joke that between them they had half a brain. But while Francha's condition improved, Ken's did not. By 1995 it was obvious that he was not healthy enough to continue working. He retired in 1996, and Francha retired in 1997. Brain injury and teaching do not mix well. Ken and Francha were free to travel, and they did, collecting countries like some people collect Hummels. They sometimes spent six months away from home, with month-long trips to Scandanavia and Central America; several 50-day cruises; and three-month stints along the Pacific Ring of Fire and the former Soviet States. One of their most special trips was to Spokane in 2001 for Jennifer's wedding to Kevin Van Vleet. Ken and Francha got a new exchange student, Kaoru, from Japan, who stayed four years until she graduated from Arapahoe Community College. In 2003, Ken finally found out what was truly wrong. After a devastating stroke, he was diagnosed with CADASIL, Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy. It was the same rare disease his dad died from, and Ken knew he didn't have many years left. He and Francha threw themselves into another round of traveling, with trips to Africa, a transAtlantic cruise, a return to Japan for the Sapporo Snow Festival; and sailing around the South Pacific. Each trip, Ken got weaker, but he was determined to keep going. His last trip was to Spokane in 2009. There, he fell and broke a hip. After surgery, he took his last flight on a Learjet ambulance, with Steven at his side. Ken checked in at Hallmark Nursing Center for rehabilitation, but the rehab was far from successful. However, there was one bright spot: Ken and Francha finally decided to get married. They tied the knot on the exercise cycle in the rehab gym at Hallmark with Jenny at their side. A month later, Ken returned home, unable to walk or take care of himself. We hired private caregivers and Ken chose to enroll in hospice. Together everyone made his life as pleasant as possible while he gradually lost all ability. In 2010, Ken decided that he wanted to be at his own funeral to hear all the nice things people had to say about him, so we planned a celebration of life for his birthday. About 50 friends and family from all over filled the house with laughter. Ken enjoyed every minute. Two weeks later, Ken had another major stroke and lost about 40 percent of his abilities. It was the first time Francha saw him cry about his disease. The only thing that kept him going was the promise of having his children together at the house for Christmas. The day after Christmas, he lost consciousness and never got out of bed again. Ken died on December 31, 2010 at 7:54 p.m. He died in his own bed in Francha's arms. Please share your memories of Kenneth and condolences with his family by selecting the ""sign guestbook"" button below.