Outstanding leader leaves Columbia
By Jim Welch

Dr. Bruce Rippeteau

Members and Friends of the Greater Piedmont Chapter of the Explorers Club will honor Bruce and Sandra Rippeteau with a farewell dinner at the Kershaw- Cornwallis House in Camden on March 30, 2008. Rippeteau is a past president of the Greater Piedmont Chapter.

"It's back to Nebraska for Sandy and me," he says, with more than a little sadness in his voice. "Columbia has been our home for a long time, but our grandchildren are in Nebraska."

Rippeteau brought his family to S.C. in 1984 to serve as director of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. He quickly became an integral part of the community, lending his valued leadership to scores of service organizations. In turn, those organizations have bestowed countless honors upon him.

Rippeteau has served as president of the Rotary Club of Columbia, the 20th largest of 31,500 Rotary Clubs world- wide and has been awarded the International Presidential Citation, the District Governor Citation, and the District 7770 Inaugural Top Communication Award.

Dr. Bruce Rippeteau

He received the Distinguished Service Award for his work with Crime Stoppers of the Midlands, the Outstanding Partnership Award from the United States Forest Service, the Presidential Recognition Award from the Society for American Archaeology, and an Outstanding Service Plaque for his work as chairman and board member of the SC Heritage Trust.

Rippeteau co- founded the Celebrate Freedom Foundation and served that foundation as board member and president. He also served on the boards of the Richland County Airport Commission, the Carolina Collegiate Feder- al Credit Union, and the Historic Camden Foundation. He is a past president of the Loblolly Society and is on the Advisory Council of the Palmetto- Fort Jackson Chapter of Association of US Army

Rippeteau grew up in Watertown, New York; however, it was at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln that destiny placed him and a pretty dark haired girl in the very same archaeology class. Later, as he picnicked with her beside a lake, destiny intervened again, sending none other than The Blue Angels to fly in precision maneuvers right above their heads, and Bruce Rippeteau realized he had discovered the loves of his life.

After receiving his BA from the University of Nebraska, Bruce earned an MA from the University of Arizona in 1970 and a Ph.D. in 1973 from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The Rippeteaus found themselves in a college town again when Bruce was offered an associate- professorship in the Archaeology Department at the State University of New York at Oneonta.

From New York to Denver, Bruce Rippeteau continued to make his mark, creating, in Colorado, the first office of state archeology and setting guidelines and standards for other states to follow.

When the Rippeteaus came to South Carolina there were four of them: Bruce, Sandy, little Luke, and baby Astrid. Rippeteau's professional career at USC included his work from 1986- 1992 with the USS Monitor Archeological Documentation Committee and from 1995- 2003 with the H.L. Hunley Historic Confederate Submarine raising and conservation project.

He has been a SCUBA diver since 1958, beginning with his work for the St. Lawrence Seaway. He continued his diving adventures in New York, Puerto Rico, Nebraska, Colorado, South Carolina, and Florida.

Bruce has been flying small planes across country since the late 1960s and piloting boats on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River where he grew up. He and Sandy continue to enjoy boating and will spend summers with their boat, Le Jolie Castor, at their waterfront home in Cape Vincent, NY. Fall, winter and spring will find them at their new Nebraska home near their son Luke and his wife Erika and children Isaac and Lily. Bruce and Sandy's daughter Astrid is with the US Department of Defense in Okinawa.