Leona Margaret Hoppe

Leona M. (Pleger) Hoppe, 96, died Sunday, April 28, 2013, of natural causes at the Valley View Nursing Home in Glasgow, Mont.

Graveside services will be held Friday, May 3, at 11 a.m. at the Highland Cemetery in Glasgow.

She was born on Oct. 30, 1916, in Harrison, Idaho, the daughter of Walter and Bertha (Holstein) Pleger. She was raised and attended schools in the Coeur d’Alene area. During World War II, she worked as a welder, a regular “Rosie the Riveter,” on tanker ships on Swan Island in Portland, Ore.

She married Fritz Hoppe at St. Maries, Idaho, on June 21, 1947. Seven years later she and Fritz moved to Great Falls, then to Shelby, and finally settled in Glasgow in 1972.

She especially enjoyed the outdoors, would drop everything to go fishing and was along on many hunting trips. She was an exceptional cook and enjoyed reading and playing cards.

She was a member of the VFW and American Legion, serving as Chaplain for both auxiliaries for many years. She will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, who was known for her dry wit, kindness and giving ways.

She was preceded in death by her husband Fritz, well known auctioneer in 1997; her father, Walt, in 1977; her mother, Bertha, in 1967; a brother, Mike, in 1973; and a brother, Ed, in 2011.

Survivors include two sons, Lon Hoppe of Post Falls, Idaho, and Steve Hoppe and his wife, Gwen, of Woodland Park, Colo.; five grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren.

Memorials are suggested to the Valley County Pioneer Museum.

Bell Mortuary of Glasgow is in charge of arrangements.