John Robert “Bob” Rippe

Bob liked to wear overalls and a farm cap on his head, puttering in his shop or on his job as an independent trucker. Driving a truck was Bob's life ambition. He hauled potatoes and wheat from the fields and storage units, across Idaho and Oregon to the Simplot processing plant in Caldwell. Bob drove trucks full of potatoes through raging windstorms in the Snake River Valley and blowing snow over Oregon's Blue Mountains. Bob knew what it took to get the job done. At the age of eighty-nine, Bob made his last, long-haul trip, dying peacefully in his sleep.

John Robert Rippe began his life on January 10, 1936, in Twin Falls. The son of Fred Rippe and Helen (Mort) Rippe. Bob grew up on a family farm in Filer, just south of Twin Falls. Bob and his wife, Bea, knew each other in high school. When Bob began courting Bea, he drove a red and white pickup truck, his favorite colors. Bob painted all of his semi-trucks red and white. Bob and Bea were married on the first day of Spring, March 20, 1961. Soon after, they welcomed their son, Carl. Bea said, “What she appreciated most about her husband was how dependable and steady he was.”

In the early years of their marriage, Bob and Bea worked side by side as farm laborers. They stacked hay together using hay hooks to load bales of hay on a conveyor belt. Later, Bob began a custom stacking business, driving a self-operated New Holland bale wagon. He stacked hay in the Hammett area near his home in Indian Cove. Bob loved living in Indian Cove and thought it was one of the most beautiful places on earth. He and Bea lived in Indian Cove for fifty-eight years.

Bob often hauled loads overnight, beginning his day at two-thirty in the morning to deliver a load of potatoes to Simplot by six a.m. He brought home horror stories about wet, mucky potato cellars and slick roads. Occasionally, Bob took some time off for fun. He liked to fish and cut wood in the mountains. Bob had a sense of humor, too, and enjoyed visiting with neighbors when they stopped by.

Bob leaves behind his wife Bea, son Carl of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and many other family members. His celebration of Life Service will be held on Friday, September 26, at 11:00 am at Rost Funeral Home in Mountain Home, Idaho