It’s April 13, 1943, a boy has just been born at a hospital in Perham. It appears to be an average boy, born to an average family. This same day, FDR dedicated the Jefferson Memorial ("Historical Events for April 1943”). This was the same year that the pentagon was completed ("The Year 1943 From The People History."). There was so much monumental history going on during this ordinary birth, yet little did we know, it was Arthur Riepe who had just been born, and he would change the lives of many.

Here we are now on Christmas Day, the year is 2015, and I am sitting here with my grandpa Art, surrounded by his family. As I ask him to look back on his life, he is proud of many things. Yet, with all that he’s done, we can both agree that his greatest accomplishment has been his family.

Art’s parents, John and Pauline, got married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the same place Art would someday get married (Riepe). After their wedding, John and Pauline settled down on a farm in Perham, Minnesota (Riepe). Growing up on a farm was a unique experience for Art. This is where he lived the first eighteen years of his life, alongside his eight brothers and sisters. Life on a farm can teach many life lessons and skills. This must have been where he learned his good work ethic. Here he attended Perham high school, graduating in 1961. After high school, Art played a year of amateur baseball for Perham when his team won the state title. Without him, his team may have never achieved this tremendous accomplishment. Finished with his high school years, he decided to head off to college. This is where his true life story begins.

Because this is where he met Virginia.

A smile crossed his lips the moment he set eyes upon her. “She was one of the sharpest looking and smartest new girls in school” according to Art. He met his wife to be, my grandma Ginger, at Dakota Business College in 1962. He will always remember the first time he saw her. She was wearing dark shorts with suspenders and a yellow blouse, looking very sharp. “I liked what I saw” he tells me, so he had decided to ask her on a date. She turned him down a few times, but with his persistence and charm, he finally took her out to a school dance. “I knew at this moment, we would someday be dancing together at our wedding” says Art. This was only the beginning to a compelling love story that would create and change the lives of many.

From here, they dated for about a year. This was somewhat difficult, as they lived in different towns. Art was working in Jamestown at a Farmers Union State office, where he wore a suit that Ginger had bought for him. She was working at an Ottertail Power Company in Oakes. Every weekend for a year, Art would drive to Oakes to visit her. In the Christmas of 1963 they got engaged to be married the following summer. However, their story was almost one to never be told. One week before the wedding, Art and Ginger were in a car accident on their way to church. The car did not survive the crash, but luckily there were no serious injuries; if God wants you to survive, you always will. Thankfully for their family and all other lives affected by Art, they wed one week later and moved to Fargo to start their lives together.

There are things not so visibly apparent, but equally important achieved by Art. One thing he is very passionate about, and very good at, is his job. After moving to Fargo in 1965, he worked as a banker for about five years. Then, he discovered the business of selling life insurance. He continues this career to this day, and it is clear that with almost 50 years of selling insurance, he has helped many people. This is work that he should be, and is proud of. This was the main story of his life for a long time; work and caring for his wife and kids. Eventually he was able to send his kids off to college, and it was just him and Ginger at home. Before he knew it, both his kids were married with kids of their own, and life was as it should be. However, this period of peace did not last long.
In the last few years of her life, Ginger was burdened by disease. After being diagnosed with cancer and kidney failure, amongst other minor illnesses, a lot of weight was put on both Ginger’s and Art’s shoulders. Throughout this terrible time in her life, Art stood by her side the whole time. Twice a week, he would drive her to dialysis, along with anywhere else she needed or wanted to go. Without his helpful hands and ready prayers, the end of Ginger’s life would have been increasingly worse than just the physical pain alone.

Here, on Christmas, sitting with my grandpa, we can clearly see the families created by him. Together, he and Ginger had two kids; Brad and Kim. In turn, both of them also got married and had two kids. Without their union, there is six less people to have an impact on our world, and two others who never would have found their other half. Six less people who aspire to follow in his footsteps and strive to do great things. Brad is now the father of two boys, Drew and Dylan, and the manager of a large business. Kim is a paraprofessional, helping kids with special needs to learn. She is also the mother to two; Jake and Carly, both of whom are gaining an education and planning to make a positive impact on the world. Without Art and Ginger, none of these lives would have come to exist in the first place.

There are many beliefs to how the world began, such as the story of Adam and Eve, and whether one believes that story or not, they cannot deny what created the human race as it is today. Love. Love creates families. As I sat with my grandpa on Christmas Day, surrounded by family, we were able to look around at what his love story had created. Little Drew, young and full of energy, is simply running circles around the living room, his older brother not far behind. Jake sits conversing with his parents, while Brad and his wife watch fondly over their boys. Each individual has a smile on their face, a love for Art in their heart, and a lesson learned from him in their minds. He teaches us to have fun, be respectful, work hard, and most importantly of all, to be devoted to our family.  Every man’s life has an effect on something, and if my grandpa had never been born, the lives of many would be a whole other story.