Alma Poppe

Alma E. Poppe age 89 of Nashua, Iowa died Thursday January 2, 2014, at Hospice of North Iowa in Mason City. Funeral services will be held 2:30 p.m. Saturday, January 4, 2014, at St. John Lutheran Church, Nashua. Interment will be in Greenwood Cemetery, Nashua with Allen Poppe, Neal Poppe, Griffin Poppe, Jason Haeflinger, Brian Haeflinger, David Haeflinger and Michael Tupper serving as pallbearers. Friends may greet the family 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. Friday, January 3, 2014, at ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH - NASHUA. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Arrangements are with Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home - Olson Chapel in Nashua. Alma Ella Poppe was born April 1, 1924, the daughter of Karl and Bertha (Schroeder) Hemmerich in Cold Water Township rural Butler County, Iowa. Alma attended rural schools, Cold Water Township Number 6 and Number 1 completing the 8thgrade. She was baptized and confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church, Vilmar. She was proud of the fact she had never worked for a wage. As a young adult she lived with her parents but raised chickens so she could sell the eggs for spending money. Alma loved going to dances and met Edmund S. Poppe at a dance in Powersville, IA, in 1949. The couple were united in marriage on February 12, 1950 at St. John's Lutheran Church, Vilmar. After she was married she worked side by side with Edmund on their farm, milking cows, tending to hogs, feeding beef cattle, driving tractor and doing the bookwork. The couple loved to dance and they hosted dances for their 25th, 40th, and 50th anniversaries. She loved to throw a good party and enjoyed all the weddings and birthday parties. The couple farmed in rural Ionia from 1951 until 1986, when they retired and moved to their house on Cedar Lake in Nashua. Alma and Edmund enjoyed traveling and visited all 50 states, Argentina, and Europe twice. Edmund preceded her in death on February 10, 2004. She moved to the Cedar Vale Assisted Living in October of 2006 where she especially enjoyed playing 500. Alma was active in her church and enjoyed sewing quilts for Lutheran World Relief. Her memberships included the Chickasaw County Cattlewomen, the Iowa Cattlewomen, and Chickasaw County and Iowa Porkettes. She always enjoyed the people she met in these organizations. She also was a member of the Nashua Garden Club. Alma loved gardening and raised a wide variety of vegetables and many annual and perennial flowers. She loved to shop garden centers to find something she did not already have and she shared that love with her children and grandchildren. Survivors include her seven children; four sons, Calvin (Nancy) Poppe, Gary (Rhonda) Poppe all of Ionia, Glen Poppe of Nashua and Roy (Ayse) Poppe of Cedar Rapids; three daughters, Sharon (Ken) Pinter of Mundelein, IL, Beverly (Jim) Haeflinger of Alta Vista and Joanne (Larry) Tupper of Ionia; grandchildren, Allen (Jillian), Neal (Kate), Craig Poppe, Angelyn Pinter (Chad McCormick), Dylana (Elliott) Eisaman, Griffin, Kelsey and Abby Poppe, Mindy (Matt) Buckley, Jason (Rachel), Brian (Steva) and David Haeflinger, Jennifer (Cory) Kuehn, Stephanie, Michael and Katherine Tupper, Hannah, Marlena and Benjamin Poppe; great grandchildren, Annalise, Allison and Ethan Poppe, Norah and Jacob Poppe, Wilson and Alice Buckley, Samara, Gibson and Ellette Haeflinger Alma was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; three brothers, Herman, Walter and Kurt Hemmerich; one sister, Emma DeBoer.