Helen "Kris" Christina Hoppe

Helen Christina “Kris” Hoppe, 94, of Great Falls, passed away on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.

A visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. followed by a rosary at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2024, both at O’Connor Memorial Chapel. A funeral liturgy will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 7, 2024, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church followed by burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Kris was born on January 19, 1930, in Livingston, Montana to Joseph “Ned” and Helen Jackson. She grew up on the family cattle ranch in Tom Miner Basin. She attended the one room country school, 1st to 8th grade. Kris graduated from Loyola Sacred Heart Academy in Missoula. Her first job was as a cook for the crew cutting down trees for the Hungry Horse Reservoir Dam. She moved to Great Falls to work as a nurse at Columbus Hospital where she met Frank “Jack” Hoppe who was a patient there. They were married on September 17, 1950, at St. Ann’s Cathedral. They were blessed with 8 “Little Darlings,” four boys and four girls.

She is survived by her daughters, Mary Lou Cox of Bell, FL, Elizabeth Botzet and Alice Hoppe-Smith, both of Great Falls, and Ruth Gifford of Sherman, TX; sons, Robert and Michael Hoppe, both of Great Falls; nine grandchildren; and thirteen great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph “Ned” and Helen Jackson; husband, Frank “Jack;” sons, Alan and Peter Hoppe; and brother Nathan “Nate” Jackson.

Kris lived life to the fullest and was a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish most of her adult life.