From Roland:
Our mother, Louise Mae Kopp, was born May 4, 1894 and died in 1979. She was born in Tracy, MN to Charles L. Kopp and Amelia Rohweder Kopp. She went though the 10th grade in Tracy schools. She spent her youth helping raise younger brothers and sisters, doing housework, gardening, etc. At the age of 16, she moved to Watertown where her two brothers Lou and Bill were living. She stayed with Lou, his wife Alice and their two sons. She worked part time at Moody's department store, attended and graduated form Watertown business school. (A two year course) She did housework for Lou and Alice to help pay for her room and board. Upon graduation from business school, she worked for 2 or 3 years as a teller-cashier in the Citizens National Bank in Watertown. She then moved to So. Shore to work in the bank there. It was a better job-more money, etc. She worked there for 3 or 4 years until meeting and marrying our father. After marriage, she worked part time at the bank for a couple of years until they got Raymond to raise as well as my birth and then Dale's. She was a very good cook and we always had huge meals. She did lots of gardening and canning, we always had plenty to eat. She was a member of the Eastern Star and active in the Methodist church.
From Dale:
My mother was a complex person and was the most important influence on my life, at least until I went to college. She had a strong work ethic and expected Roland and I to work hard at whatever we did. She instilled a strong sense of justice (or injustice) in us, partially because she felt taken advantage of in her life. She broke free from the pattern of the oldest daughter staying home to be a mother's helper by leaving Tracy and moving to Watertown. She wanted a life for herself and was prepared to work for it! She got a specialized education and expected to be a bank cashier (something women didn't do in those days!). She reached her goal and became the cashier at a branch bank (of the Watertown bank) located in South Shore where she met my father. She had a battle to win him from Aunt Tillie, she said, and there was a life-long tension between them because of it.
My mother's ambition transferred to Roland and I. She wanted us to "get ahead". She was proud of our accomplishments and wanted us to be "better off" then she and Pa.
My mother had a weight problem nearly all of her life. Pictures of her when she was young show that she was average size but she recounted that she gained weight while on the farm in South Shore after her marriage and struggled with gain-loss-gain from then on. Related to this perhaps, she also was ill with various ailments most of her life. She was a hypochondriac personality and seemed to use her illness to influence all of us. I was sympathetic, angry and later, forgiving of her behavior. She was very bright and had a range of interests and knowledge that exceeded most people of her age that I knew.
