Richard Pope Obituary

TRIMONT:    A Service of Remembrance for Richard L. “Dick” Pope, 90,  of  Trimont, Minnesota, 2:00 p.m. Sunday, February 13, 2022 at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Trimont, Minnesota.

There will be Military Honors by the Foster-Bernhardt American Legion Post #373 of Trimont at the church.    Burial will be at a later date in Waverly Lutheran Cemetery in rural Trimont.  

Dick was called to his eternal rest on Saturday morning, February 5, 2022 at his home in Trimont, Minnesota with his family at his side. Visitation with the family will be from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Saturday, February 12, 2022 at Evangelical Covenant Church in Trimont.

  Please share a memory of Dick with his family by signing his online guestbook  at www.kramerfuneralhome.com

For the safety of all, facial coverings and all COVID-19 protocols  will be requested.

Memorials are prefered by the family to: Trimont Town Center, Trimont Food Shelf or the Trimont Area Centennial Band.

Richard Leroy Pope was born on April 10, 1931 to Theodore and Bertha (Olson) Pope in Triumph, Minnesota.  His family had a grocery store on main street, Triumph, and they lived in an apartment above the store.  Dick grew up on main and knew everyone in town and  they knew him.  He went to school and graduated with the class of 1951 from Triumph-Monterey High School.  During high school he played a trumpet in the band directed by Maynard Nelson.  He played in a trumpet-trio that earned a “A” at state level contest.  At the Trimont Town Centennial in 1999, Dick played the same trumpet he played in high school.  The band of alumni organized by Maynard Nelson composed of people from the surrounding towns that stayed together several years.  Dick and others organized a scholar ship in the name of M.L. Nelson for high school seniors who were going on to school.  Since starting the scholarship they have been able to help 20 students.  Dick entered the United States Navy five days after high school and trained at the boot camp at Great Lakes and then to medical corpsman school.  Upon graduation he was sent to San Diego for assignment aboard a ship headed for the South Pacific spending time at Okinawa, Guam, Iwo Jima.  His next tour was on a carrier in Operation Ivy where they observed explosions of bombs and the new first Hydrogen bomb and destruction of Eniwetok.  He came home to Minnesota on leave and was united in marriage to his high school sweetheart, Kay Marilyn Sheppard on September 16, 1953 at Waverly Lutheran Church.  They spent the next two years in San Diego until his honorable discharge in 1955.  They returned to Minnesota and he went to Worthington Community College.  Navy friends and California friends beckoned him, so they went back to California and Dick graduated from San Jose University.  While attending school they became interested and involved in the establishment of Hope Lutheran Church, Santa Clara.  Dick taught 6th grade of Sunday School and Kay played the piano/organ.  They were deeply involved in and had many friends there.  Dick worked at Lockheed, Missiles and Space Division Sunnyvale in the Chem Lab where rocket, and missiles were tested for contamination and or air purity.  Dick also worked for Royco Instruments in San Mateo, in the Chem Lab.  While home in Minnesota in early of 1970 on vacation, Robert Hartke offered Dick a job at D & J Transfer in Sherburn.  Facing all the decisions and situations made Dick decided to sell his house and come home to Minnesota and live in Sherburn.  Dick worked at D & J as a dispatcher and was Vice-President.   They later built a new house in Trimont.  After retirement, he drove for Crest and greatly loved raising ponies, tutoring 3rd and 4th graders for Martin County West.  He loved the kids and they loved him right back.  They then traveled, visiting 49 of the 50 states, many Canadian visits, cruised through the Panama Canal to Caribbean to Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, tour Scandinavia, British Isles thru Channel to Paris, Iceland, and Nova Scotia and he enjoyed every single mile.

A project that was dear to his heart was the Trimont Area Veterans Tribute.  He was a veteran, interested in history, realized the things service family goes through.  A great committee put together and accomplished that beautiful site in the park.  He was very proud of that whole project.  Another of importance was the Trimont Centennial  Band where he participated in the band and later drove them in many parades. At one time he served on the Sherburn School Board and he belonged to the American Legion in Trimont and was a life member of the DAV.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Kay (Sheppard) Pope and his beloved daughter, Melanie Kay Pope and her special friend, Eugene Boulanger; nieces and nephews; long time friends, Bernie and Diane Semanko and Dick Meyer and many more relatives, neighbors and friends.

Dick was preceded in death by his parents, sisters and many friends and other relatives.