Joan Cecelia Koppe, 92, of Gladstone, died May 4, 2014 at NorthCare Hospice. Joan was born on May 31, 1921 in New Ulm, MN, the daughter of Alois and Bertha (Kuehn) Loeffler. She graduated from Holy Trinity High School in New Ulm in 1939 and from the College of St. Teresa in Winona, MN, in 1943. While attending a Summer of Catholic Action conference at St. Catherine College in St. Paul, MN, in the summer of 1938 she met a budding aviator from St. Paul named John Koppe who had been recruited by a priest to attend the conference dance due to a shortage of male attendees. Their off-and-on courtship over the next few years included unannounced flights to Winona by John in the plane he co-owned. After college, Joan worked for the Archer Daniels Midland Company in Minneapolis. From 1943 to '44, she taught middle school and high school in Jeffers, MN. She married John Koppe on June 12, 1944 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in New Ulm and she followed him to Navy postings in Lake City, FL, and Mount Vernon, IA, before returning to New Ulm when he was stationed in California and Hawaii. In 1946 she moved with him and their newborn son to Cincinnati, OH, where they lived until early 1955 and where four more of their eight children were born. After 18 months in Indianapolis, IN, the Koppes then moved to Kansas City, MO, in 1956, where three more children were born. They settled in the house in the Bolling Heights neighborhood of Gladstone where she would live the rest of her life. A highly educated and informed woman, Joan was an avid reader, deeply interested in art, politics, gardening, bird-watching, and current events. Her strong opinions, lively conversational skills and sense of humor were her trademark. Joan was a lifelong Catholic and a parishioner at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church for 58 years. She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Marguerite Loeffler and Marcella Loeffler Groat; her husband of 61 years in 2005 and by two sons, Stephen P. Koppe in 1949 and Peter J. Koppe in 2006. She is survived by four sons, Gregory J. (Barbara) Koppe, St. Louis, MO; Philip M. (Martha) Koppe, Kansas City; George T. (Mary Lee) Koppe, Kansas City, and Joseph L. Koppe, North Kansas City; two daughters, Mary Joan (Russ) Dixon, Kansas City, and Annette E. Ahnemann, Apple Valley, MN; two daughters-in-law, Marlene Koppe and Stephanie Koppe of Kansas City; her sister, Laura Hurley of Broomfield, CO; two brothers and sisters-in-law, Austin (Fran) Loeffler of Bemidji, MN, and Paul (Mary) Loeffler of Wheeling, IL; twelve grandchildren; two great grandsons; four step-grandchildren and three step-great grandchildren. She also leaves Natalie Colwell, who was her caregiver, friend and confidant for the past four years.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18