Alumni Feature

By Dave Person

Although it has been more than 40 years since Rudy Cuperus walked the halls of Parchment High School, the former exchange student from the Netherlands is no stranger to Kalamazoo.

“I’ve lost count, but I think I have been back more than 10 times,” the resident of Leeuwarden in the Dutch province of Friesland wrote in response to emailed questions for this article.

Cuperus, who attended PHS as a sophomore in 1983-84, returned in 1988 to attend Kalamazoo Valley Community College. He also came back to take part in the weddings of his three host siblings, Rick, Kim and Bob Patterson.

His most recent visit with family and friends here was this summer.

Cuperus, 56, is married to Syanna, and they have two daughters, Jildau, 26, and Rixt, 24.

He attended business school and a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands and is employed at ING Bank in Leeuwarden.

His favorite pastimes these days, in addition to traveling, are listening to music, playing guitar, watching movies and playing sports.

While staying with the Patterson siblings and their parents, Richard and Sallie, in Parchment, Cuperus played on the high school soccer team coached by Dave Hamman, whom he referred to as “a great, friendly and helpful man. … Besides the Pattersons, he was a person who wanted to make sure that I had a great year in the USA.”

Despite making many lifelong friendships, including Parchment friends Phil Chadderdon and Jon Heasley, with whom he and Rick Patterson lived when Cuperus returned to attend KVCC, Cuperus says he fears he disappointed many local sports fans.

“I want to take this opportunity to apologize to every basketball fan in Parchment,” he wrote. “I'm close to 7 feet long and when everyone saw me arrive at the beginning of the year, everyone was expecting to become state champions. Unfortunately I am not much of a ball player. You can ask Jon Heasley.”

Soccer was a different story, however, and he made an immediate impression. “I think I scored the first goal of the season against Plainwell,” he recalls.

Another one of Cuperus’s favorite soccer memories was a game against Hackett.

“During the warming up they ran around us, clapping and trying to intimidate us. That was something I had never experienced before,” he wrote. “I hear you think ‘how did the game end?’ We won 2-0.”

Cuperus also remembers how surprised he was at “all the teachers who wore golf pants. I was not used to men wearing such colorful pants.”

.“I was 15 years old, almost 16 when I spent my year in Parchment,” he wrote. “The entire year was memorable. I lived with a great family in another country, with another language, and culture was unique. Playing sports and going to high school. I had a great year.”

Rudy Cuperus Picture