Amy Lynne Rupiper Taggart

Amy Lynne Rupiper Taggart, 43, of Fargo, ND passed away on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at Sanford Pallative Care in Fargo, ND. Amy was born on July 24, 1973, to Glenn and Shirley Wernimont Rupiper in Sibley, Iowa.

Amy is survived by her husband, Mark; children, Ella and William Taggart; mother, Shirley; siblings, Renee Roy Langin, Rachelle Scott Lehman, Brent Lisa Rupiper, and Kent Rupiper; and many other loving relatives and friends. She is preceded in death by her father, Glenn.

I write this from the perspective of Amy’s husband and share some anecdotes from our relationship, which I hope and think will be parallel to your own experience with Amy.

“Communication is hard” is a phrase Amy and I used in varying capacities between ourselves — a joke with something little, soberness after better understanding each other, desperation during a passionate argument. Self admitting, most of the time it was me not being clear or my intent not quite being understood. I don’t say this in a self-deprecating manner, but merely to illustrate how we all grew with Amy’s love, and the gift she shared of herself as she imprinted upon each of us. She genuinely strived to improve her own writing and consequently encouraged us all to be better people. She did this in many ways. One talent, she was very open and accepting, while at the same time provided constructive criticism to better ourselves.

Part of our first ‘communication’ has a bit of a humorous note to it regarding our first date as we met via a friend at Colorado Vincentian Volunteers in Denver, Colorado. As we had our first conversation, we immediately found parallels in our lives, both blessings and struggles. As our first encounter closed, I mentioned and setup our first miscommunication… I said something like, “There’s this place that has line-dancing and we should try it out.” Amy agreed it sounded like fun. However, in my mind, I expected her interest as confirmation that we were going on our first date. In the next couple of days, our mutual friend, Amy’s co-worker/my roommate – was excited to know we were going to have this date and expressed it back to Amy. Understandably surprised, Amy graciously accepted our date which we had a really fun evening — and many more beyond.

Amy had many talents, not in any specific order, but to name some of them: writing, teaching, singing, parenting, sharing, role-modeling and the list continues as you may have related. This leads me to another phrase Amy introduced to me, I think came from her time as a CVV volunteer on a retreat. It was, “You are your own problem.” That may sound harsh – it took me a while to understand it, and I often reflect on it. I may not exactly explain it, but it’s one that always humbled me to help me to better understand and communicate in the coming years – between each other, and beyond to others; whether verbal or written. How I relate is, as a problem-solver, your problem’s solution lies within you to accept, relate and reconcile. Thus, it seems we are within the realm of the problem of losing Amy…

At the end of the funeral mass, father sends us out to continue God’s service onto others. It is our hope you can continue this element of her faith which she shared in her capacity to shine God’s love and peace from ourselves as she allowed it to shine from herself.

Visitation: Friday, June 23, 2017, at Wright Funeral Home from 5:00PM-7:00PM with a prayer service beginning at 7:00PM.

Funeral: Saturday, June 24, 2017, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Moorhead, MN, at 10:00AM with a visitation one hour prior to services.