Henry "Hank" Rurup

Stockton, CA

July 16, 1933 - April 4, 2006

Henry "Hank" Rurup, of Stockton, CA, passed away on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 in Stockton at the age of 72 years, following a five year battle with cancer. Henry was born on July 16, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was married to Vivian Luchini on November 9, 1957 in Stockton. Hank studied Pre Med at the University of Buffalo and San Francisco City College prior to entering military service during the Korean War. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on active duty from March 1952 - February 1956. He studied to be a Corpsman at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Great lakes, Illinois. After completing his studies he served at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, CA as a psychiatric Corpsman and later as an Operating Room Technician. He was then detached to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine division, in Okinawa and Japan receiving his last rating of HM2 General Duty Corpsman. From February 1956 - March 1960, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve in Air Wing 85M, Niagara Falls, NY and finally at NRSD 12-39 in Stockton, CA. He was honorably discharged in March of 1960 and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. Hank then served in Law enforcement for the next 42 years. In 1958 he became a Patrolman with the California Highway Patrol and later served as a Court Liaison Officer. During this time he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Science from California State University Sacramento andalso taught night classes in traffic safety to Police Academy students at San Joaquin Delta College. He retired from the Highway Patrol in 1987. He then worked in the Office of the District Attorney for the next 13 years as an investigator for the Criminal Investigations Division and the Welfare fraud Unit. He was a member of the California Highway Patrolman's Association, the California District Attorney Investigator's Association, a life member of the International Policeman's Association and a credit committee member of Central State Credit Union.

Henry is survived by his wife of 48 years, Vivian Rurup of Stockton; son, Paul Rurup (Cathy) of Las Vegas and children, Adina and Tori Rurup; son, Jeff Rurup (Trina) of Lodi and children, Joey, Dominic and Samantha Rurup; daughter, Kelly Sprake (John) of Lodi and children, Michael, Nicholas, Marissa and Natalie Sprake; his siblings, Joe and Ron Gall of Florida and Rose Geer of Pennsylvania.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Monday, April 10, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Luke's Catholic Church, 3847 N. Sutter St. in Stockton. Private committal will be held at Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi. Memorial contributions may be made in his memory to Hospice of San Joaquin, 3888 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA 95207.