Rusty has passed
From Tory Erpenbeck
Well, it seems everyone who needed to be told directly knows now.
My dad Rusty Erpenbeck died today unexpectedly in his home twelve days before his 60th birthday.
Usually I’m good at writing words but I think I’m still in shock and it doesn’t feel real, so I’ll just do my best.
As you all know, my dad had a brain aneurysm and a stroke in 2019 that by all odds should’ve killed him. We were blessed with an extra 4 and a half years. While we lost a lot of parts of him from his brain injury, his personality, sense of humor, stubbornness, and interests never changed, he was still my dad at his core and for that I am grateful.
My dad was a special guy who lived life by his own rules. He loved weird old sci-fi movies, building and fixing things, Christmas music, antiques, and he was a prolific genealogist.
I am more grateful than I can put into words for his genealogy work allowing me to connect with my Ancestors. Most people don’t have names, birth dates, and places for their Ancestors dating back hundreds of years. I’m privileged that I do.
He designed and built the beautiful house I grew up in. He was a gifted architect and a generally creative human being. My favorite story to explain my dad to people is when he tried to build a perpetual motion device (which only exists in theory and isn’t a real thing) in our family room.
He wasn’t a man of many words, not unlike myself, and he showed his love for me by giving me strange objects that his tenants would leave behind, filling up the gas tank in my car, and randomly handing me cash.
Many of my favorite qualities about myself I think came from my dad. My humor, intelligence, creativity, height, and fingernails (iykyk) are all gifts I inherited from him. We had very different beliefs and values, but I’ve always thought that otherwise, we’re basically the same person.
I never expected my dad to live a long life. I didn’t think he’d make it to 50, much less 60. His dad died (presumably of a brain aneurysm) at 50 years old. He made it a decade longer than his dad, so let’s hope I can make it to 70 🤞
But the timing just seems like a sick joke as we continue navigating my mom’s brain cancer diagnosis.
Please keep my whole family in your thoughts and prayers, but especially my mom who lost her partner of over 40 years, and my grandma who lost her son. I need them to both keep going so I can make it through this too.
Drink a Coke for my dad tonight, that’s his favorite.
I will update everyone when we have information about the funeral service.
Thank you to everyone who’s already reached out, it means a lot 🖤.