W. Norman Rapalee Biography


	This biography appears on pages 189-190 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				W. NORMAN RAPALEE.  

	W. Norman Rapalee is proprietor of an extensive and growing 
marble and monument business at Yankton, which he established in 1908 
and has since successfully conducted. He is a product of the northwest 
and possesses the enterprising spirit that has ever dominated this 
section of the country. His birth occurred in Bon Homme county, South 
Dakota, October 15, 1878. His father, Daniel W. Rapalee, a native of 
the state of New York, served as a soldier in the Union army, enlisting 
when but fourteen years of age as a member of the Eighty-fourth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he was connected for about two 
years. In 1874 he arrived in Dakota territory, establishing his home in 
Bon Homme county, where he became owner of a farm, having four hundred 
and eighty acres, which he homesteaded and preempted. Not a furrow had 
been turned nor an improvement made upon his place at the time when the 
land came into his possession, but with resolute spirit he undertook 
the task of transforming the prairie into productive fields and for 
twenty years successfully devoted his attention to general agricultural 
pursuits. In 1894, however, he retired from farming and entered the 
marble and monument business, later settling in Sioux City, where he 
still makes his home. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Fannie 
Crenshaw Prior, is now deceased.  

	After mastering the elementary branches of learning taught in the 
district school near the old home farm upon which he was reared, W. 
Norman Rapalee became a student in the Tyndall high school, from which 
he was graduated with the class of 1897. Later he pursued a business 
course in Sioux City and his practical training along business lines 
was received under the direction of his father, whom he assisted in the 
monument and marble business. After acquainting himself with the trade 
through actual experience in the work of marble cutting he went upon 
the road, representing the business as a traveling salesman, and thus 
he gained further valuable knowledge and experience. In 1908 he came to 
Yankton, where he embarked in a similar business on his own account, 
and such has been the growth of the undertaking that he is now at the 
head of the largest enterprise of the kind in the state. His patronage 
covers a wide territory and the excellence and attractiveness of the 
output insures a continued and gratifying patronage.  

	On the 17th of August, 1910, Mr. Rapalee was married to Miss 
Jennie M. Scace, a daughter of Frank and Lillian M. (Buser) Scace, of 
Primghar, Iowa. Mrs. Rapalee is a graduate of the Cedar Falls Normal 
College and for a short time was a teacher in the Yankton schools. By 
her marriage she has become the mother of one child, Norma Olivette. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rapalee attend the Congregational church and he belongs to 
several fraternal organizations, including the Masonic, Odd Fellows and 
Elks lodges. He votes independently when casting a ballot at local 
elections, but when national issues are involved supports the 
principles of the republican party. He is a member of the Commercial 
Club and is in hearty sympathy with the purposes of that organization. 
He enjoys hunting and motoring, but never allows recreation to 
interfere with the performance of his business duties. His success is 
due to fair dealing and chose application, and he ranks today among the 
most prominent of the city's younger generation of business men.