By Jessica DeLeon
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
February 4, 2001
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS - About 25 years ago, when Kathy Luppy and
her now deceased husband, Chuck, worked as Amway salespeople, they
picked up a book called Rhinoceros Success.
Her husband so liked the book's philosophy, which compared animals'
traits to strategies people should take in life, the family adopted
the rhino as its symbol. And Kathy Luppy, a teacher at North Ridge
Elementary School, now boasts a curio cabinet and classroom filled
with rhinos.
"The rhino was the one who kept his eyes on the road and charged
forward and wasn't to graze on the grass like the cows," Luppy explained.
One would think it would be hard to find rhino-shaped objects,
but Luppy always managed to find them on trips and gift shops. Friends
and students also collected them for the family.
The Luppys found a rhino maraca in Cancun. A friend brought her
a rhino candle from a New York City pawn shop. Another friend, who
worked in a machine shop, collected metal shavings to form a rhino
horn. A student bought her rhino bath beads.
"We have an Avon bottle, believe it or not," she said.
Plus, there's stuffed animals, a Christmas tree ornament with
a rhino on a skateboard and one made out of papier-mache.
"It's just unbelievable, the different kinds," she said.
But it's more than just a collector's object. It's a symbol. At
school, her class is referred to as "Luppy's Raging Rhinos" and
have T-shirts and locker and desk name tags with the rhino on them.
Her husband, before he died, made a pendant with a rhino for her
and their children.
"They're just a magnificent creature," she said.
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