James "Jim"

F. Hoppe

Atkinson — James "Jim" Frederick Hoppe, 79, of Atkinson, died Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at his home in Atkinson.

Visitation was held Sunday, May 11, 2025 at Seger Funeral Home in Atkinson with a prayer service.

Funeral services were held Monday, May 12, 2025 at the funeral home in Atkinson. 

Burial was in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Atkinson.

Memorials may be made to the family for future designation.

James was born on June 13, 1945, at the Wilson Hospital in Stuart. His parents were Carl and Ella (Kazda) Hoppe. He was baptized July 8, 1945, at the St. John's Lutheran Church in Atkinson. 

When he was three years old, he was chosen to be “King of Toyland” in a baby contest sponsored by the Atkinson Whisker Club. His ambition was doing his daddy's chores or driving the tractor. At that time, he could recite many nursery rhymes and could spell his own name. During his childhood his grandmother taught him many things including how to tat and crochet. 

He attended Atkinson Public Grade School until seventh grade. After that he moved to Omaha where he attended eighth grade. He then went on to the technical school in Omaha for high school. During high school he attended the Ford Motor Company trading school once a week in the evenings and also worked at Roberts Dairy as a mechanic. Halfway through the 11th grade he quit school and began to work at John and Phil Arnold's gas station fixing car tires and pumping gas. He would usually fix 50 tires a day and would get $1 to fix each one. If he would work past 10 p.m. then he would get an extra $0.50 a tire. He then went back to school to complete his senior year and graduated from the technical school on June 7th, 1963. 

The day of his high school graduation his father Carl rode the bus to Omaha to attend the ceremony and the very next day James moved back to Atkinson. 

Once back in Atkinson, Emil Johnson asked James to help in the hayfield. Over the course of time, he then went to work for Willis Peterson, haying and taking care of the horses. During the winter months he would work for Leroy Dobrovolny feeding his cows. He lived in the school bunkhouse for $150 a month. 

On Feb. 14, 1965, he married Marlienne Claire (Fetherston) in Atkinson. Life after marriage found James and Marlienne living on the family farm 10 miles east of Atkinson where he resided until his death. There he worked daily on the farm milking cows by hand until they eventually got electric milkers. For years they sold grade A milk until selling the milk cows in 1993. In March of 1980, he had his first registered Angus calf and continued to build his herd of Angus cattle.

He was always in the shop tinkering on things. He spent many hours planting crops, tending to the fields, haying, taking care of livestock, raising pigs, chickens and anything else farm life could offer. He loved the farm and the work. He could always be found riding side saddle on his four-wheeler checking his irrigation systems, crops and cattle, visiting the neighbors or sharing stories with his granddaughters. 

Jim is survived by his daughter Misty (Tyler) Carey; son William “Bill” Hoppe and four grandchildren Miya and Brooke Carey and Autumn and Jaylynn Hoppe.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years Marlienne, daughter Heather, parents Carl and Ella Hoppe and father- and mother-in-law William “Marlie” and Ruth Fetherston.