Anchorage Daily News February 25, 2001
KATHLYN RUTH PIPPEL, 83, died in her sleep Feb. 14, 2001, in Tucson, Ariz. A memorial service was at the Palmer Moose Lodge.
She was born Kathlyn Ruth Smith on Feb. 15, 1917, in Royalton, Ill. She grew up in Ziegler, Ill., graduating from Ziegler High School in 1934. She married Lamont Hamby in 1941. They arrived in Palmer in 1942. She worked as the assistant to the director of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp., the corporation that ran the Matanuska colony. Hamby died of cancer in 1948. In 1948, while marketing potatoes she had grown, she met Bob Pippel. They married in 1949. Mrs. Pippel opened the first insurance agency in Palmer, working evenings and weekends. In 1949 she became assistant to the director of the new USDA Experiment Station in Palmer, a job she held until her retirement in the 1970s. Mrs. Pippel went back to work at Pippel Insurance Agency, which her husband, with her after hours help, had been running since 1951. The couple sold the agency and retired in 1986. They divided their time between Alaska in summer and Tucson in winter. Mrs. Pippel volunteered for the Altar Society at St. Michael's Catholic Church and organized and ran its annual Bazaar and food booth at the Alaska State Fair. She was a member of the first planning and zoning board in the city of Palmer. She served on the Valley Hospital board in the 1950s. She enjoyed fishing and hunting. Her family wrote: ''Kay was an incredibly hard worker. She was ambitious for her children and grandchildren, and strived to provide them with the opportunities she had been denied. She was a voracious reader and a great conversationalist. People were comfortable talking with her, often about things they would not discuss with others. She was a strong, smart, determined, outspoken woman at a time when that was unusual.''
She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Robert W. Pippel; sons and daughters-in-law, William and Phyllis Pippel and Anthony and Mimi Pippel; grandsons, Robert and William of Palmer; and sister, Marian Laughren. She was preceded in death by a brother and sister and her son, Robert Michael.
KATHLYN RUTH PIPPEL, 83, died in her sleep Feb. 14, 2001, in Tucson, Ariz. A memorial service was at the Palmer Moose Lodge.
She was born Kathlyn Ruth Smith on Feb. 15, 1917, in Royalton, Ill. She grew up in Ziegler, Ill., graduating from Ziegler High School in 1934. She married Lamont Hamby in 1941. They arrived in Palmer in 1942. She worked as the assistant to the director of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp., the corporation that ran the Matanuska colony. Hamby died of cancer in 1948. In 1948, while marketing potatoes she had grown, she met Bob Pippel. They married in 1949. Mrs. Pippel opened the first insurance agency in Palmer, working evenings and weekends. In 1949 she became assistant to the director of the new USDA Experiment Station in Palmer, a job she held until her retirement in the 1970s. Mrs. Pippel went back to work at Pippel Insurance Agency, which her husband, with her after hours help, had been running since 1951. The couple sold the agency and retired in 1986. They divided their time between Alaska in summer and Tucson in winter. Mrs. Pippel volunteered for the Altar Society at St. Michael's Catholic Church and organized and ran its annual Bazaar and food booth at the Alaska State Fair. She was a member of the first planning and zoning board in the city of Palmer. She served on the Valley Hospital board in the 1950s. She enjoyed fishing and hunting. Her family wrote: ''Kay was an incredibly hard worker. She was ambitious for her children and grandchildren, and strived to provide them with the opportunities she had been denied. She was a voracious reader and a great conversationalist. People were comfortable talking with her, often about things they would not discuss with others. She was a strong, smart, determined, outspoken woman at a time when that was unusual.''
She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Robert W. Pippel; sons and daughters-in-law, William and Phyllis Pippel and Anthony and Mimi Pippel; grandsons, Robert and William of Palmer; and sister, Marian Laughren. She was preceded in death by a brother and sister and her son, Robert Michael.
Anchorage Daily News February 25, 2001
KATHLYN RUTH PIPPEL, 83, died in her sleep Feb. 14, 2001, in Tucson, Ariz. A memorial service was at the Palmer Moose Lodge.
She was born Kathlyn Ruth Smith on Feb. 15, 1917, in Royalton, Ill. She grew up in Ziegler, Ill., graduating from Ziegler High School in 1934. She married Lamont Hamby in 1941. They arrived in Palmer in 1942. She worked as the assistant to the director of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp., the corporation that ran the Matanuska colony. Hamby died of cancer in 1948. In 1948, while marketing potatoes she had grown, she met Bob Pippel. They married in 1949. Mrs. Pippel opened the first insurance agency in Palmer, working evenings and weekends. In 1949 she became assistant to the director of the new USDA Experiment Station in Palmer, a job she held until her retirement in the 1970s. Mrs. Pippel went back to work at Pippel Insurance Agency, which her husband, with her after hours help, had been running since 1951. The couple sold the agency and retired in 1986. They divided their time between Alaska in summer and Tucson in winter. Mrs. Pippel volunteered for the Altar Society at St. Michael's Catholic Church and organized and ran its annual Bazaar and food booth at the Alaska State Fair. She was a member of the first planning and zoning board in the city of Palmer. She served on the Valley Hospital board in the 1950s. She enjoyed fishing and hunting. Her family wrote: ''Kay was an incredibly hard worker. She was ambitious for her children and grandchildren, and strived to provide them with the opportunities she had been denied. She was a voracious reader and a great conversationalist. People were comfortable talking with her, often about things they would not discuss with others. She was a strong, smart, determined, outspoken woman at a time when that was unusual.''
She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Robert W. Pippel; sons and daughters-in-law, William and Phyllis Pippel and Anthony and Mimi Pippel; grandsons, Robert and William of Palmer; and sister, Marian Laughren. She was preceded in death by a brother and sister and her son, Robert Michael.
KATHLYN RUTH PIPPEL, 83, died in her sleep Feb. 14, 2001, in Tucson, Ariz. A memorial service was at the Palmer Moose Lodge.
She was born Kathlyn Ruth Smith on Feb. 15, 1917, in Royalton, Ill. She grew up in Ziegler, Ill., graduating from Ziegler High School in 1934. She married Lamont Hamby in 1941. They arrived in Palmer in 1942. She worked as the assistant to the director of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp., the corporation that ran the Matanuska colony. Hamby died of cancer in 1948. In 1948, while marketing potatoes she had grown, she met Bob Pippel. They married in 1949. Mrs. Pippel opened the first insurance agency in Palmer, working evenings and weekends. In 1949 she became assistant to the director of the new USDA Experiment Station in Palmer, a job she held until her retirement in the 1970s. Mrs. Pippel went back to work at Pippel Insurance Agency, which her husband, with her after hours help, had been running since 1951. The couple sold the agency and retired in 1986. They divided their time between Alaska in summer and Tucson in winter. Mrs. Pippel volunteered for the Altar Society at St. Michael's Catholic Church and organized and ran its annual Bazaar and food booth at the Alaska State Fair. She was a member of the first planning and zoning board in the city of Palmer. She served on the Valley Hospital board in the 1950s. She enjoyed fishing and hunting. Her family wrote: ''Kay was an incredibly hard worker. She was ambitious for her children and grandchildren, and strived to provide them with the opportunities she had been denied. She was a voracious reader and a great conversationalist. People were comfortable talking with her, often about things they would not discuss with others. She was a strong, smart, determined, outspoken woman at a time when that was unusual.''
She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Robert W. Pippel; sons and daughters-in-law, William and Phyllis Pippel and Anthony and Mimi Pippel; grandsons, Robert and William of Palmer; and sister, Marian Laughren. She was preceded in death by a brother and sister and her son, Robert Michael.
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