Katie J. Poppen, age 98 of Estelline, died Monday, January 18, 2010 at the Estelline Nursing and Care Center. Her funeral service will be 1:30 P.M., Monday, January 25, 2010 at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Estelline. Burial will be in the Dempster Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. Sunday at Geise Funeral Home in Estelline.

Katie Johanna (Rust) Poppen, daughter of Fred and Meta (Stuhrenberg) Rust was born January 15, 1912 near Dempster, South Dakota. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Dempster. She grew up and received her education in the Peyton Rural School in the Estelline area except for three years from 1919 to 1922 when she attended school near Coffeyville, Kansas. After they returned to South Dakota, Katie graduated from Peyton Rural School at the age of 12. On February 23, 1932 she was united in marriage to Alfred James Poppen at Hayti, South Dakota. The couple farmed west of Dempster until 1974 when they retired and moved into Dempster.

She was a long time resident of the Dempster community where she was active at St. Johns Lutheran Church and a member of the St. Johns Ladies Aid Society. In 2007 she served as one of the Grand Marshals to the 125th Celebration of the Estelline community. Katie was loved and respected by her children and the community. She enjoyed cooking, sewing, gardening and was an accomplished upholsterer.

Grateful for having shared her life are her three children, Marjorie Donovan and her husband Richard of Sioux Falls, William A. Poppen and his wife Yvonne of Knoxville, TN and Lyle Poppen and his wife Joyce of rural Castlewood, SD; nine grandchildren, Julie Zastrow of Wausau, WI, Tom Donovan of Blair, OK, Jill Donovan of Sioux Falls, Anne Donovan of Emporia, KS, William A. Poppen of Harrisburg, NC, Mindy Kieren of Knoxville, TN, Daren Poppen of Knoxville, TN, Jannan Poppen-Cohen of Flagstaff, AZ, and Naomi Colberg of Volga, SD; eight great grandchildren, Thomas, Katie, Mark, Sarah, John, Blake, Emily and Aurelia; two great great grandchildren, Jalen and Aiden;one brother, Emil Rust of Hacienda Heights, CA; two sisters-in-law, Ellen Rust of Clear Lake, SD and Georgia Rust of Lexington, MO; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Katie was preceded in death by her husband Alfred; her parents; two brothers who died in infancy; her sister Freda; five brothers, George, William, Armin, Ernest and Lawrence; and one granddaughter, Ellen Donovan.

The family requests that memorials be directed to the charity of your choice.