Phyllis D. Gropel

PHYLLIS DELPHANE GROPEL was born October 26, 1919, in Olivet, South Dakota, to Edward and Minnie (Rebel) Grim. She was the youngest of six children.

She attended school in Olivet and Menno, South Dakota, graduating from Menno High School in 1937. Upon graduation, she enrolled in school at the South Dakota Beauty Academy, Sioux Falls, South Dakota where she learned the trade of hair styling. Upon finishing school in Sioux Falls she went to Marion, South Dakota to ply her newly acquired trade. It was in Marion where she met and eventually married Willard “Stein” Gropel.

The couple made their home in Marion for a short time, where they were engaged in the grocery store business. Then, because of various events surrounding the war, they sold their grocery business and moved to Wichita, Kansas. After the war they moved back to Marion. In 1946 they made their home in Ivanhoe, Minnesota where the couple owned and operated a hardware business for 27 years.

In 1973, they sold their business and moved to a farm located just a few miles west of Ivanhoe. During their first 22 years of their retirement the couple wintered in Weslaco, Texas. In 1996 they sold their farm and moved to Luverne, Minnesota.

Phyllis was a patient mother, interested in her family and anxious to do for them the best she could. Her ambition was to serve and to be of aid to her neighbors and acquaintances whenever the opportunity presented itself. Over her lifetime she spent many hours crocheting doilies, stocking caps, afghans, and mittens; cutting scrap material into small pieces and stitching together these odd looking shapes to form beautiful quilts. She was very adept at counted-cross stitch, and produced many other fine handcrafted items, all of which were eventually given away to friends and visitors. She possessed many talents. Today those hands which sought to render a service--their task is finished.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband, Willard, who passed away June 12, 2005; her parents; three sisters, Iola Grim Steffen, Rachel Grim Beehler, Eileen Grim Steensrud; and one brother, Howard O. Grim. She is survived by her two boys, Willard “Bill” Gropel and his wife, Florence Guza Gropel of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota; and Gregg Gropel and his wife, Jane Kaczrowski Gropel of Luverne; one brother, Gordon Grimm of Lake Havasu City, Arizona; eight grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be directed to the Luverne United Methodist Church Endowment Fund.