Car accident won't keep Iowa man from getting back on the dance floor

Jack Kew and Joyce Rublack aren't shy about busting a move on the dance floor. Give them a tune and the two whirl across the floor before Kew deploys his signature move: the splits.

“When they're doing their thing, everyone just seems to -- even the dancers -- watch, mesmerized by the cadence they have,” said Doug Koempel, band member and founder of the West Union-based Band, The Memory Brothers.

That all changed, however, when 50-year-old Kew got into a car accident on Nov. 4  that landed him in the hospital with several broken bones, a collapsed lung and no question that he wouldn't be dancing anytime soon.

Kew and Rublack have known each other for almost 30 years before they started dating earlier this year and are known to frequent dance halls, ballrooms and saloons from Dubuque to Omaha, Nebraska.

When Koempel, who get to know the two after seeing them dance at several of his shows, found out about the accident he posted information on the band's website and sent emails updating friends about Kew's progress. He and others reached out to Rublack about organizing a benefit event, but nothing is official yet.

Rublack did establish  benefit account this week at Hampton State Bank in Hampton for the pending medical and rehabilitation expenses Kew, a self-employed metal scraper, is likely to incur. Kew doesn't yet know the extent of his medical expenses.

“It's something where I don't want him to worry about finances, I want him to focus on getting better,” said Rublack, 54. “That's my biggest concern.”

Rublack said she and Kew have developed a community of friends throughout their years of dancing who have come through in this difficult time with cards, phone calls, and words of support.

“The wonderful thing about dances is its almost an extended family,” she said.

After several surgeries, the Hampton resident  is now in rehabilitation at Waterloo's Covenant Hospital, where he said it's likely he'll be able to go home in a week or so.

Kew doesn't shy away from the long road to recovery he is about to begin, but remains optimistic his days of tearing up the dance floor aren't over. Although the rod now in his leg may make his splits and slides more difficult.

“I may not be able to do it 100 percent like I could before,” he said in a phone interview from his hospital bed. “But as long as I can get out on the dance floor and dance with my honey, that's all I can ask for.”

To send a donation:

Hampton State Bank

100 First Street NW

PO Box 119

Hampton, IA 50441-0119