Brandon Ruopp, 39 | News, Sports, Jobs

Brandon was born on October 27, 1982, the only son of Wade and Patricia (Rash) Ruopp in Marshalltown, Iowa and was raised in rural Marshall County with his older sister, Brandy. He graduated from East Marshall High School in 2001 as class Salutatorian. He had a passion for his studies and enjoyed playing football and wrestling as a Mustang.

He continued his education at Simpson College in Indianola where he played football for one season, studied abroad in Germany, and triple majored in Criminal Justice, Political Science and German.

Upon graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2005, Brandon answered a call to service and enlisted as an Airborne Infantryman in the Army. He subsequently broke his ankle in an Airborne training landing, cementing a change in his first duty station to Fort Polk, Louisiana – a stationing he long lamented due to the outrageous heat and humidity.

He continued his Army career at USAG Yongsan, South Korea in Seoul – where he served on the United Nations Command Honor Guard and performed other duties that he had many fond memories of. During his assignment in Korea, he decided to pursue a long-held ambition to study law and found a location to take the LSAT in Korea. He completed his tour in South Korea and briefly transitioned to the Individual Ready Reserve prior to accepting a position with an Army Reserve unit in Davenport, Iowa, as a Drill Sergeant, a position that would allow him to continue his military service while he attended law school. He earned the distinction of Distinguished Honor Graduate at Drill Sergeant school and was sent to one of his first assignments supporting a deploying unit in Omaha, Nebraska. During this assignment, he met his wife who was serving as the Mobilization and Training NCO for the supported unit. The two started dating on June 14, 2009, and wed the following year on June 14, 2010 while his wife was home on leave in the middle of a two-year tour in Iraq. The date was also the anniversary of his entry to active duty in 2005 and is also observed as Flag Day – a date that made it easy for Brandon to never forget their anniversary.

Brandon continued his military service until 2011 and shifted his life focus to the study of law and family. He clerked at Moore, McKibben, Goodman & Lorenz in the summer of 2011 and joined the firm as an associate in 2012 after obtaining his Juris Doctorate with Distinction at the University of Iowa and successful completion of the Bar Exam.

Brandon and Jeana moved to Marshalltown and learned shortly thereafter that they were expecting their first child. Dane arrived in 2013, followed by Madison in 2014, some pregnancy losses, and Morgan in 2017 — the same year that he was named a partner in his firm. One of his greatest joys in life was his children — he took great pride in their intellect, spirit and individual personalities. He loved to read to them, take long walks, long drives, adventures to the playground, Sunday afternoon library dates and take them to church where he would sometimes lead Sunday School. He had great ambitions for each of his children and their paths in life. In the last year of his life, Brandon loved watching and helping Dane grow as a football player and wrestler and was starting to embrace life as a dance dad to Madison and Morgan. He was incredibly relieved that they had all finally learned to ride their bikes – one of his biggest goals of his last summer with them. Some of his greatest hopes were to raise children who knew how tremendously they were loved and would share that love with the world in a way that treated others with kindness, dignity and respect and that they would approach life with strong and sound ethics.

Brandon was also a proud cat dad, having slowly embraced the five cats that his wife had brought into their marriage. He especially adored “his” beloved Calico cat, Nubi. Nubi was his feline companion into his final moments at home, refusing to leave his side. He loved to share stories about his cats – especially Nubi, share “cat parenting” tips and litter recommendations to his friends and gave his wife cards for every anniversary and birthday with his hand drawn illustrations of Nubi. He also had the joy of regular companionship with the family English Shepherd over the last year and a half of his life and loved taking long walks to decompress after long days of work.

Brandon was much more than a dedicated family man, attorney, soldier and scholar. He believed in community and lived his last decade of life in service to the Marshalltown and surrounding areas. He was a very active Master Mason and had a strong desire to increase membership. He served as Worshipful Master of Marshall Lodge No. 108 in 2017 and 2018 in addition to other roles over the years. He was also a member of the Marshalltown York Rite Bodies, Signet Chapter No. 38, R.A.M., King Soloman Council No. 20, R.S.M, and the St. Aldemar Commandery No. 30, K.T. He also served as the 1st Vice President of the Marshalltown High Twelve Club No. 617. He considered his brethren an extension of his family. Brandon was honored to serve on multiple boards in Marshalltown including: Central Christian Church, Child Abuse Prevention Services, Big Brothers Big Sisters. He had also served as an officer with the American Legion in Marshalltown.

Brandon enjoyed traveling extensively with his wife, studying his family genealogy and history – naming both of his daughters after prominent American figures, James Madison and J.P. Morgan. He had traveled thru more than a dozen countries and most states prior to his passing. He loved a good last minute road trip in the family van and long weekend trips. Brandon loved Fox News, Iowa Hawkeye Athletics, anything on PBS and watching Svengoolie on Saturday nights. He prioritized Friday night dates nights with his wife and was known to randomly come home with a bottle of Moscato or Mango wine, just because. He loved a good craft beer and rarely sat at a table without a bottle of hot sauce. He was a dedicated partner who was full of life and truly fit as much as he could in his 39 years.

He had dreams of building a home and starting a small “farm” on Ruopp family land. He spent his last spring, summer and fall helping his wife, kids and father with a large garden plot, pumpkin patch, apple tree and peach tree. He had a tremendous emotional connection with the Ruopp family land and was at peace there. He spent some of his final months harvesting black walnuts, camping and teaching his son how to use his BB gun.

Brandon is survived by his wife Jeana, three young children; Dane, Madison, and Morgan, parents; Wade and Patricia (Patty Rash) Ruopp, of Marshalltown, sister and brother-in-law; Brandy (Sean) Buell, of La Mirada, California, three nieces; Eden, Sage and Ailin Buell; grandmother; Pauline Hess, of Richmond, Missouri; his mother-in-law; Janet Goswick, brothers-in-law; Brandon and Donald Goswick; and extended family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents; James (Jim) and Shirley (Ewoldt) Ruopp, grandfather; Ernest Rash and cousin; Ryan Ruopp.

His family would like to thank Dr. Lance VanGundy, his medical team and the paramedics who responded and provided extraordinary care to Brandon and his family in his final moments and in dealing with the early moments of their grief journey.