George Popp

George Popp age 91 of Mason City died Saturday November 7, 2009 at the Heritage Hall Nursing Home in Broken Bow. Funeral services will be held Thursday November 12, at 1:00 PM in Govier Bros. Mortuary in Broken Bow with Rev. Kenneth Hutson officiating. Burial will be in the Box Elder Cemetery at Cumro, NE. Visitation will be held Wednesday 8 Am to 8 Pm at Govier Bros. Mortuary. George Herman Popp was born to John George Popp and Olga Christine Swenson Popp September 9, 1918 near Cumro, Nebraska. He attended Cumro School District 136 through the eighth grade and then worked full time for his dad on the farm. He loved playing softball and played with a team from the Cumro area. He was the catcher because he was used to squatting having milked cows most of his life. A hernia kept him from being inducted into the service. It probably gave him more time to pursue a wife whom he probably met at a ballgame. George married Doris Palmer on April 21, 1946 at the Christian Church in Broken Bow in a double wedding ceremony with his twin brother Phillip Popp and Maxine Trew. The couples honeymooned together in Denver, Colorado. The story among family is that they took their sister, Katherine Popp to the bus depot in Lexington on their way to Denver. On their return trip from Denver, a tire on the car blew out near Ft. Morgan, Colorado. While Phillip was trying to purchase a different tire, another tire on the car gave out, so George went in and told Phillip to get two. This was when tires were hard to come by because of the war rationing. George and Doris rented a place just about a mile west of Cumro for 12 years. Phillip and Maxine lived just west of them and the men shared work and machinery. During this time, Barbara and Merlin were born. Then they moved north a couple of miles to just west of the First Eudell Church and lived there for 9 years and while there, Brenda was born. At this time they started selling Grade B milk instead of just the cream. Later, they moved to the next place just northwest of there and started selling Grade A milk. When George reached retirement age, he turned over the farm and dairy operation to Merlin and son-in-law Alton Uhlig. But George still worked just as hard as he had all of his life, often doing what he liked best – working in the shop! He must have invented the phrase “reduce, reuse or recycle”. He complained about how we waste so much, especially our natural resources. And he seldom thought something was really worn out unless he could not fix it. And he liked nothing better than to prove that things could be fixed and probably much stronger than before. Recycle – well, when he got done with it, there wasn’t enough left to recycle! After twenty-five years, George and Doris moved south to just north of Cumro. He never lived more than a mile and a half, as the crow flies, from where he was born until he moved to Heritage Hall. George served on the Loup Township Board for many years as well as the Box Elder Cemetery Board. He attended Sunday School at the First Eudell Church from childhood until it closed, later joined the Evangelical Free Church in Sumner and then the United Church of Sumner when the Free Church and Baptist Churches merged. He accepted Christ as his savior in 1956. People were very important to him. He often said, “If you are too busy to stop and visit, you are too busy.” He enjoyed visiting with anyone and everyone and really cared about them. Time wasn’t an issue nor was being on time. He was very generous– helping others build or repair things, loaning machinery, or helping in anyway he could. He loved to pull practical jokes and loved it just as much as when someone pulled one on him. Shivarees and Halloween were opportune times for such pranks. Stealing bread that was already buttered, putting a rock in someone’s boot or flicking your ear from behind you were common occurrences. Homemade ice cream was one of his favorite foods, and he made lots of it in his hand-crank White Mountain triple action 6 quart freezer. His record time for freezing a freezer full was 12 minutes. Due to declining health, George and Doris moved to Heritage Hall in Broken Bow on October 9, 2009. George was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Phillip and Conrad, and sisters Margaret and Euleta. He is survived by his wife Doris; children Barbara (Alton) Uhlig of Broken Bow, NE., Merlin of Mason City, NE., and Brenda (Ron) Pierce of Sumner, NE.; five grandchildren, Ron (Alison) Uhlig of Omaha, NE., Sandy (Ryan) Murphy of Saline, MI., Meredith Pierce and Geoff Pierce of Lincoln, NE., and Miranda Pierce of Sumner, NE.; seven great-grandchildren, Lauren, Cole, Hallie, and Avery Uhlig and Shaelee, Treston, and Sienna Murphy; and sisters, Katherine Harrison of Stockton, IL. and Evelyn Rausch of Lincoln, NE. George will also be greatly missed by his many nieces and nephews and friends and neighbors.