Eldon V. Stolpe

Eldon Vincent Stolpe, 94, of Sioux City, departed this earthly world to join his wife, family and friends Sunday, May 14, 2017, at a Sioux City hospital. He was surrounded by family.
Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Morningside Lutheran Church. Interment will be in Obert Cemetery, Obert, Neb. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, with a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home.
Eldon was born on Oct. 29, 1922, at the family home in Obert. Eldon joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and trained in B-24 repair in Galveston, Texas, eventually shipping out from Boston to England, where he arrived in 1943. There he worked to assemble bombers while waiting to leave for Normandy Beach. Eldon landed there 19 days after the initial invasion and spent a month patching bombers as German planes conducted nighttime raids.
He was united in marriage to Lois Dahl on Oct. 18, 1946, in Sioux City. For the better part of his life, he remained successfully self-employed as Stolpe's Furniture Service.
He was a lifelong member of Morningside Lutheran Church. Along with his wife, Eldon enjoyed traveling by car from coast to coast. They shared one special trip to Europe with a grandson (Dayton) and both daughters to visit Normandy to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He was a permanent member of American Legion Post 307 in South Sioux City and served as a Scout leader for more than 10 years with Boy Scout Troop 280.
Those left to cherish his memory are his children, Ritch (Judy) Stolpe of Sioux City, David (Chris) Stolpe of Berwick, Maine, Donelle (Don) Flammang, of Dallas, Ore., and Rhea (Todd) Greve, of Wakefield, Neb.; daughter-in-law, Terri Stolpe of Sioux City; two brothers, Arvid of Rapid City, S.D., and Cliff of Bella Vista, Ark.; one sister, Ethel Rasmussen of Hartington, Neb.; 13 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
Eldon was preceded in death by his wife of more than 69 years; a baby son, Gary; a baby grandson, Marshall; a great-granddaughter, Katelyn; and seven siblings.