- Date Of Birth: August 1, 1923
- Date Of Death: April 22, 2018
- State: Colorado
Josephine “Jo” Poppe was born on August 1, 1923 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents were Laura and Joseph Bielicki. She had four sisters; Lillie, Florence, Jessie and Mary, all who have preceded her in death. At the time she was born the average yearly income was $2,000, a new car cost $300, rent was $18 per month and gasoline was 12 cents a gallon. She has seen and experienced so much in her lifetime. Blocks of ice were delivered to her home for the “ice box”, she was a part of the “roaring 20s”, watched silent movies, shared a twin bed with her sister for much of her young life and was a life-long lover of Big Band era music. During her lifetime Charles Lindberg made the first transatlantic flight, the Star Spangled Banner was named our national anthem, the Lone Ranger radio broadcast began, Mickey Mouse was born, Disneyland opened and she managed to live through the hippie era. McDonalds was founded, which she couldn’t have been happier about since she loved their fish sandwiches. She witnessed unbelievable changes in technology, including the first color TVs, the birth of the internet (although she did not have much use for this), cell phones, the dawn of space exploration, man walking on the moon and the discovery of DNA. She saw the Berlin wall come down, the civil rights movement and all its positive changes. But she also saw tragedy; the bombing of Pearl Harbor, World War II, the great depression, more wars, the atomic bomb, political assassinations, the Hindenburg explosion, natural disasters and violence in society, but through it all maintained a positive outlook on life. She watched the news every morning and read the paper every day. She graduated high school and went to work for a bank. She married and during that marriage she lived in Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Utah, Tennessee, New Mexico and California. Most importantly to her, that marriage produced her three daughters, Barbara Miller, Diane Mack and Wendy Ashton. She worried about Barb when she was living in Japan and Guam, she nursed Diane back from a near fatal bout with a mumps misdiagnosis and massaged Wendy’s legs in the middle of the night when she had to start a new treatment for MS. She became a bookkeeper for a carpet manufacturer and was very proud that she could take care of herself. Her travel was to see family and her favorite trip was to Hawaii with Barb and told anyone she met that she had the best pineapple in her life when she was there. Diane always made her laugh. After Wendy relocated to Colorado she was persuaded to retire, pack up her belongings and head east where she resided with Wendy and Wendy’s husband Phil, granddaughter Heather and numerous dogs for well over twenty years until her passing on April 22, 2018. She was an excellent caregiver, homemaker and positive influence in Heather’s life. She is survived by her three daughters, their three spouses, William Miller, William Mack and Philip Ashton, along with her six grandchildren, Elizabeth Williams, Michael Miller, Steven Miller, Brennan Mack, Cory Mack and Heather Pelton and eight (soon to be nine) great-grandchildren, Lucas, Lydia, Cora, Christian, Brea, Miley, Mason and Blair. She surrounded herself with photographs of them all. She did not climb mountains, cure diseases or make millions of dollars. But to those who knew her, she did not need to do so. She was always ready to greet you with a smile, a kind word or an offer of a helping hand. Because of how she conducted herself, she instilled in others, a positive attitude, politeness, humility, a strong work ethic, calmness, the value of organization, being understanding and always on time, a sense of humor, gentleness and kindness. She was a great listener and storyteller.
