Former Yankton City Commissioner Ron Tappe was truly one of the good guys, according to his longtime city colleagues.
Tappe died Oct. 20 at age 82 at Avera Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls. A native of Nebraska, Tappe moved to Yankton in 1969 to manage the Gibson Discount Center. When that closed, he went to work for the Sherwin Williams in downtown Yankton, which he managed for 25 years. Tappe held a seat on the Yankton City Commission from 1982-2004 and served as mayor from 1986-1989. He also served in other capacities, including on the Yankton Park Board and the Planning Commission.
Tappe was an important resource, said one of his colleagues.
“For me, moving back to Yankton after having been gone for 20 years, I had to respect his knowledge of everybody in the community,” said former Yankton City Commissioner Charlie Gross, who served on the City Commission from 1993-2017. “I knew a lot of people because they were here before I left, and they were here when I got back. But he knew everybody.”
As a new commissioner, Gross said he recognized Tappe’s knowledge of the history of the City Commission and community, a knowledge one only gains by serving on the commission for many years.
“Ron would sit and I would watch him listen to discussions,” Gross said. “Then, he would finally say enough, and he would then interject his comments and that usually brought the discussion to a close.”
Gross said Tappe spoke with authority, was a dedicated commissioner, did his homework and knew what was going on around town.
“If you wanted to learn, you needed to pay attention to Ron,” Gross said. “I would describe him as a man of few words. But when he spoke, you paid attention.”
Born in Butte, Nebraska, in 1939, Tappe moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, where he graduated from Sacred Heart High School and attended Norfolk Junior College. There, he also met his wife, Joan Rees. The couple married in 1959 and had a daughter, Jill Eicher.
“He loved the outdoors,” Eicher said. “If he could have the windows open, (they were).”
Tappe also loved hunting and went on fly fishing trips every year. In Yankton, he golfed at the Hillcrest Golf Club for many years and was very involved in the Sertoma Club, she said.
Eicher also recalled many happy weekends boating and water skiing on Lewis & Clark Lake, camping with old friends and many family vacations.
One vacation memory stands out for Tappe’s wife.
Years ago, when Tappe and a friend were enjoying the ocean in Cancun while their wives sunned themselves on the beach, a big wave surprised Tappe at a moment when his mouth was open, Joan Tappe told the Press & Dakotan.
“The wave banged into him and threw his false teeth into the ocean,” she said. “He went back to the beach the next morning to see if anything was there, and lo and behold, his Chapstick and his nitroglycerin bottle were on the beach, but not his teeth.”
Tappe couldn’t eat his favorite foods and lost 15 pounds, but finished out the two-week vacation anyway.
Ron Kraft, former economic development director for Yankton Area Progressive Growth (YAPG) describes Tappe as very level-headed and not quick to comment or to take sides.
“He was a good retail manager and a good representative from the perspective of businesses in the downtown. That and we bought a lot of paint from him because he ran a good store,” he said. “Whether you were getting advice on what kind of paint to use or on what kind of project, he was always wanting to encourage the community to grow and prosper.”
Fellow City Commissioner Terry Crandall recalled the collegial nature of the relationship between commissioners when Tappe was mayor.
“That’s what strikes me about Ron. It was his main goal just to get consensus. That was his thing,” Crandall said.
This was important when the federal prison camp came to town, which Crandall said “was a pretty divisive time.”
In 1984, Yankton College (YC) had shuttered its doors, leaving an empty campus in the middle of the community, with many of the houses around it for sale, he said.
“A proposal came from the feds to build a prison camp in the middle of Yankton,” Crandall said. “People in the area around it didn’t want it.”
Public meetings were held in the Nash Gym on the old YC campus, and the commission eventually voted to accept the offer from the federal government, he said.
“We had one person rush from the audience and verbally attack Ron. He just kind of yelled at him and said, ‘I spend more time picking out my socks that you spent thinking about this issue,’” Crandall said. “The thing that struck me about the whole thing was, Ron was so cool. He was very nice and very calm.”
Tappe seemed to always want to make sure that all sides were heard, he said.
“Ron’s leadership really showed. I don’t think he ever aspired to be a leader,” Crandall said. “He walked off the public stage very quietly and went about his other business.
“He was just a happy guy, a good guy, and I miss him.”
Ron is survived by his wife Joan and daughter Jill Eicher, as well as his brothers Duane and Melvin Tappe, and many nieces and nephews.
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