Stopak, Clara 1915-2004

STOPAK, SMOLEN, PIER

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 2/28/2009 at 16:54:46

LE MARS, Iowa -- Clara Stopak, 89, of Le Mars died Sunday, Oct. 31, 2004, at Sunrise Retirement Community in Sioux City.

Services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Le Mars, with the Rev. William McCarthy officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Le Mars, with military rites conducted by the American Legion Wasmer Post 241. Visitation will be after 2 p.m. today, with a Christian Mothers rosary at 4 p.m. and a vigil wake service at 7 p.m., at Feuerstein Funeral Home in Le Mars.

The former Clara Smolen was born Sept. 20, 1915, in Greeley, Neb., the first child of Thomas and Josephine (Pier) Smolen.

She married Steve Stopak on July 26, 1942, in Phoenix, Ariz. The couple served their country during World War II. Her husband was a pilot, flying a P47, and she was a registered nurse with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. After the war, the couple made their home in Omaha, where she worked as a registered nurse. From 1954 to 1958, they lived in Columbus, Neb. They moved to Le Mars in 1958. Her husband, Steve, died May 29, 1978. She moved from Le Mars to Sioux City in 2001.

She was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, the Christian Mothers Society and the American Legion Wasmer Post 241.

Survivors include three children, Stephanie Ann and her husband, Dr. Julian Freeman, M.D., of Highland Park, Ill., Stewart J. Stopak and his wife, Suzanne of Flower Mound, Texas, and Ronald J. Stopak of Le Mars; three grandchildren, Heather Ann and her husband, Ariel Aloe of Chicago, Ill., Mei-Ling Stopak of Houston, Texas, and Ei-Ling Stopak of New York City; four sisters, Martha Swan of Glendale, Calif., Sister Joselda Smolen, O.S.F. of Colorado Springs, Colo., Bernice Lichty of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Edna O'Neill of Marino Valley, Calif.; and two brothers and their wives, Dan and Jo Anne Smolen of Westminster, Colo., and Dean and Deena Smolen of Arvada, Colo.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Steve Stopak; four brothers, Edwin, Lambert, Adrian and Clarence Smolen; and a sister, Donna Mae Smolen.

Pallbearers will be Tom Ryan, Tim Rollinger, Dean Bohlken, Mike Dreckman, Mike Sitzmann and Scott Nielsen.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal, Nov. 2, 2004
~Part of the Darrell E. Obituary Collection