Pamela Lynn Hoppe

Pamela Hoppe ' February 2, 1959 – December 4, 2019

"If you loved me, meet me in heaven."

-Pam Hoppe

Pam Hoppe was the best mom, daughter, grammy, sister, friend, and preschool teacher ever. She always had a smile on her face. She loved Jesus, children, practical jokes, and her family. She had an undaunted faith in God and truly loved all of God's children unconditionally, and she believed in putting that faith into action.
Pam was born in Peoria, Illinois on February 2, 1959 to Jim and Mary Jo Hoppe. She went on to live in Iowa and Wisconsin before her family moved to Montana in 1966. As a child she loved to make paper dolls cut from the Sears catalogues and taking trips to the library with her sister where the basket on her bicycle would be loaded with books.

She enjoyed a good practical joke. These jokes could consist of her arranging for random magazine subscriptions to be sent to some unknowing friend to being the inspiration behind a toilet planted with flowers and left in her brother's yard in the middle of the night.

Pam gave her heart to Christ at a young age. She believed that the word Christian was a verb not a noun and lived her life as she believed Jesus would live his. She could find the good in every person and believed in that goodness even when the individual in question couldn't believe in his or herself. If she knew someone was struggling, she would find a way to help them even if it meant that she went without. Her home had an open door. It was never locked—even at night. Pam never knew who might be in her house when she got up in the morning; as long as her children weren't in danger she would allow whoever had arrived to stay. She was active in her church with the children as her focus and calling. She wrote Christmas plays and organized and led the Children's Church every single Sunday.

Her love for children and patience with them was evident from a young age. If Pam made a promise to a child, she would follow through. At one point, she packed 13 children into her yellow Camaro because she was taking them to the park, and it was the only way to get there. This love for children led her to quit her job as a Baker at St. Patrick Hospital which she had held from 1979 - 1985 and open an in-home day care. She spent the rest of her life working with children. In 1989 she left the home daycare business and started working at Small World Child Care. She held this position for the next seven years until she started working at ASUM Child Care as an Assistant Teacher in 1996. After she had worked with the toddler program for nearly two years, she moved to McGill Hall to work with the preschoolers. She became the Lead Teacher and went back to school to earn her degree in Early Childhood Education in order to be the best teacher possible. She loved her job with the children and was happy to go to work every day and be with them. She had such an impact on her co-teachers and children that ASUM Child Care is naming Pam's classroom after her and starting a scholarship fund in her name to provide help for families who need assistance in paying for childcare. The other ASUM agencies are also donating money to build a special library nook in honor of Pam.

Pam also became a foster mother. She cared for many children throughout the years and loved them as if they were her own. Two of these children became permanent and brought her great joy. Mary arrived when she was three years old and remained until Pam became too ill to care for her. Mary thrived under Pam's care, and even learned a few words in her time with Pam-- the most important of which was "mom." Nate arrived when he was a teenager, and he remained with Pam until he became an adult. Fie, his wife, and his children were a source of great joy to Pam, and they loved her as much as she loved them.

Toward the end of her life when she was requiring extra care her son, Nate, daughter-in-law, Joy, and her grandchildren welcomed her into their home with open arms to provide that care. Pam was fiercely independent and the idea that she might be a burden was concerning to her. However, she did not need to worry because her family was happy to help every second of every day and night. She passed away on December 4, 2019 at their home surrounded by her family after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer.

Pam touched more lives than she will ever know. Her smile was filled with sunshine and laughter, and when she gave a hug you couldn't help but feel the love she had for you. We'll miss her watering down her coffee so it wasn't too hot to drink, planning out her gardens of fake flowers that she loved, and the way that she would pick up an onion and eat it like it were an apple.

Pam is survived by her parents, Jim and Mary Jo Hoppe; her daughter, Mary Green, and her son and daughter-in-law, Nate and Joy Brown; her grandchildren, Nathaniel, Laura, Benjamin, Joylynn, and Hannah; her siblings, Laurie (Forrest) Alteneder, Jim (Candace) Hoppe, Joel (Anna) Hoppe, Carrie Hoppe, Sarah (William) Carter, and Timothy Hoppe. She is also survived by a large number of nieces and nephews, and a large extended family.

She was preceded in death by her grandson, Chevy Troy Brown; niece, Deborah Alteneder; grandparents, Chancey and Tynne Hoppe and Joseph and Mary Hosch; and infant twin sisters.