Carl Gage Rupert was born in Huntington, PA around 1885 to Maude Hatfield, a slender, pretty woman with delicate features, who married Harry Rupert around 1880. They resided in Huntington their whole lives.
Carl learned the trade of barbering and married Minerva Stull in 1903. Minerva, born in 1886, was a tall, intelligent woman who loved to laugh and tell an untoward joke. Carl was a short man with a large personality. Sitting in their horse and buggy on their wedding day, one sees a tall, mature young woman seated next to, what appears to be, a little boy. Looks can be so deceiving!
Carl was an astute businessman. At the turn of the last century, the automobile was a novelty of the rich. Roads were poor and unpaved. Fuel was difficult to buy. It was only around 1915 that Henry Ford introduced an affordable automobile. Still, most people preferred a horse and buggy where roads were poor and fueling stations were many times nonexistent. These were the conditions in 1919 when Carl opened his automotive dealership in Tyrone. It was slow at first, but as the twenties progressed his business took off. Carl and Minerva moved from their small home in Huntington to a much larger home in Tyrone, on the side of the mountain, on East 10th Street.
Coach Schlosser Comes to Tyrone
In the fall of 1926, Eddie Schlosser, a recent graduate of Juniata College, took a teaching position as a mathematics teacher at Tyrone High School. As the head football coach during the 1926-27 and 1927-28 seasons he had only average success, but developed friendships with his players, some of which would last a lifetime.
A natural athlete with a quick mind, he began both his teaching and coaching careers at Tyrone. One of his players during the 1926-27 season, a smaller kid with an outgoing, competitive personality named Bob Rupert asked him to come over to his home for dinner one evening. Bob was a good athlete with a big heart. He had a big smile and a loud, piercing laugh. Unfortunately, Bob was short like his father. Coach Schlosser liked Bob and saw his athletic potential, but was concerned about his ability to be hit by guys much bigger than he was. One day Bob asked his coach to come over to his home for dinner in hopes it would help his chances of making the starting line up. Coach Schlosser was a twenty-two-year-old, untenured first-year teacher living on twenty-five dollars a week. A good meal with Bob’s mother, Minerva — an excellent cook — and his father, Carl — a well respected businessman, would make a good impression. Besides, Bob had a secret weapon: his cute, unmarried, twenty-year-old sister, Dorothy.
Dorothy had been dating Frank Stonebraker, one of her father’s salesmen at his automotive dealership, but it wasn’t serious. Dorothy had just graduated from Bloomsburg Normal School (Bloomsburg University today) with a degree in elementary education in 1926. She was a petite girl who wore her hair short, in the “modern” fashion of the day. Carl and Minerva were strict but loving parents who kept both Dorothy and Bob on a short leash. Dorothy craved her father’s attention and remained very close to her mother for her whole life.
The evening supper was a family ritual. When Carl returned home, Minerva had dinner prepared and Bob and Dorothy were expected to be there. It was at this dinner engagement that Ed and Dorothy first met. I guess things went well from Bob’s perspective as he made first team and earned his varsity letter in football.
Marriage and a Cross-Country Honeymoon
Dorothy Rupert and Edward Schlosser were married in 1932. For their honeymoon they decided to drive cross country to California. In 1932 this was no small feat. The roads were poor and often unpaved. Maps were frequently incorrect and automobiles were far less reliable than they are today.
Upon their return two months later Dorothy and Eddie settled in Lebanon, PA where Eddie had been hired as a math teacher and the head coach of the basketball team. One day Coach Schlosser decided that because his team had a long road trip for a game that he would rent a large car with window shades so his team members would be able to sleep during the ride home. What Coach Schlosser failed to realize was that this model car was also favored by bootleggers at the time. Sure enough, they were repeatedly pulled over by the police and the car was searched. In spite of this Coach Schlosser had a very successful coaching career at Lebanon High School taking the 1932-33 team to the state championship playoff games at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show building.
In 1935, Dorothy and Eddie moved to Harrisburg, PA where he was hired by John Harris High School (now Harrisburg High School) to teach the honors math students (he had continued his education and now had a master’s degree) and coach football, basketball, and track & field. Their first son, Edward Rupert Schlosser, was born in January of 1935.
Bob at Rupert Chevrolet
Back in Tyrone Carl hired his son Bob as a salesman and through the Great Depression taught him the business. The Great Depression was a challenge for all businessmen of the day, but Carl’s keen business sense saw opportunities even in this atmosphere. Rupert Chevrolet continued to grow and prosper.
Bob and his wife “Trixie” settled in Tyrone and in 1934 had twins, a boy they named Robert Carl Rupert II, and a girl they named Amy Vee Rupert. The 1930s and early 40s saw Rupert Chevrolet in Tyrone, PA, grow into a very successful business. They sponsored the Tyrone High School football program and were involved in many community activities. Carl and Minerva always found the time to visit with their grandchildren.
The family was very close, so it came as a terrible shock to all of them when in 1947 Carl was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Bob and Trixie lived close and were always at the house helping Minerva care for Carl. Bob took over the daily operations at Rupert Chevrolet. Dorothy and Eddie visited often and Dorothy would frequently stay in Tyrone to help her mother while Eddie would return to Harrisburg for his teaching and coaching responsibilities.
When Carl Rupert passed away in 1947 his son Bob took over the business. On his death bed Carl had made Bob swear to always take care of his mother and he set up Minerva as a lifetime employee of the company with a salary to provide for her for the rest of her life.
Coach Schlosser’s Career
Dorothy and Eddie remained in Harrisburg. They had a second son, Donald, in 1947 and in 1948 Eddie became the head football coach of John Harris High School. He led his teams to five city championships from 1948 to 1955. Dorothy continued to teach first grade at Pennbrook Elementary School just a mile from their home.
In 1968 Coach Edward Schlosser was diagnosed with cancer. It was front page news in the Harrisburg Patriot News sports section. In the 1950s more people in the city knew who the coach of the John Harris football team was than knew the name of the mayor. He fought hard for four years with Dorothy always at his side. He died in October of 1972.
Minerva, Indomitable
Minerva, 86 years old and still driving, made the drive from Tyrone to Harrisburg to check up on her daughter. She only stopped driving in 1978 at the age of 92 and she passed her 1962 Oldsmobile F-85 to her 16-year-old great-grandson, Edward Rupert Schlosser, Jr. In 1985 when he graduated from Lebanon Valley College, Minerva, 99, and her daughter Dorothy were both present.
In the fall of 1985 Bob decided to retire and move to Florida. He was now well into his 70s and he decided to take his mother with him. Minerva only survived another few months. When she died she was just eight weeks from her 100th birthday. She was certainly an incredible woman. Born in 1886, before radios, cars or the general use of electricity, she had lived to see men walk on the moon, and her great grandson graduate from college. Dorothy Rupert Schlosser and Bob Carl Rupert both passed away shortly after their mother in 1985.
Additional Thoughts
One night in the early 1920s when Carl was out of town, Minerva heard a sound out front of the home where their car was chained to the old hitching post they had used for years for their horse and buggy. Someone was trying to steal it. Minerva grabbed a rifle and shot into the night. She could hear the men running so she fired off a few more shots in their direction for good measure. She said there were two of them and though they were never caught, they did not get the car. Minerva could take care of herself.
Nearing ninety, Minerva was physically active and mentally sharp as a tack. One day she came upon a large black snake in her garden. She went into the house and emerged with a deer rifle. At close range she pulled the trigger and blew it to bits. Another day her grandson and his family arrived to find her on the roof with a rope tied around her waist and to the chimney as she cleaned out her rain spout.
Minerva loved to cook for her grandson’s friends when they went hunting. When he arrived with his friends, sometimes half a dozen men, she would pull out the cast iron skillets and cook for an army. She would always apply for a hunting license to give to a member of the hunting party should they get lucky and need it. She lived alone, but not lonely, on the side of that mountain for almost forty years.
When she entered her late nineties Minerva began to lose her eye sight and began to see gypsies flying over her home. She of course armed herself and began to shoot at them with her .38 revolver. The police came and took all her bullets, but left her with the gun. She simply placed a call to her son Bob requesting he pick her up a few rounds. He obliged his mother’s request. Of course in time the police were back and this time they took the gun, which was registered in her grandson’s name. Ed headed straight up to Tyrone to bring her back to Harrisburg, unarmed of course.
Rupert Chevrolet Oldsmobile (excerpt from Tyrone of Today, Vol. II)
Rupert Chevrolet-Olds celebrated its fifty-eighth year in business in 1976. They are the oldest automobile dealership in Blair County, having been established on March 19, 1919, by Carl G. Rupert on East 10th Street. Robert H. Rupert headed the service department at that time. Rupert’s began selling the Templar automobile and became a Chevrolet dealer in 1923. In 1931 due to increased business Rupert’s moved to 215-217 East 10th St. At this time they installed Tyrone’s first body shop with Hubber Gill as the paint and body specialist. In 1932 Oldsmobile was added to the automobile line.
In 1941 with the outbreak of WWII, Rupert’s allowed the John R. Wald Company to set up a defense plant in their establishment. A small sales and service force was maintained to service the needs of their customers. In 1947 Robert H. Rupert became owner and General Manager at the passing of Carl G. Rupert. Robert C. Rupert joined the corporation in 1955 as Sales Manager.
During the late 1920s, when the Tyrone-Altoona Speedway was in its heyday, Rupert’s Garage entertained nationally known racecar drivers and exhibited their race cars in their showroom. At that time Chevy coupes were selling for about $550 and sedans went for $600–$650. Rupert’s continued their business in a new building at Tipton (now occupied by Tri Star Ford) after the East 10th Street properties — including the Carl Rupert home — were taken to make way for the I-99 bypass.
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