Orville Elden Pieper
July 12, 1930 - Feb. 9, 2008

Orville Elden Pieper, 77, of Sterling, passed away Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, in Sterling. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12, and until noon Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Trinity Lutheran Church with the Rev. James R. Nash officiating. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery. There will be a luncheon for family and friends from noon until 1 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Lutheran Church.

Orville was born July 12, 1930, to Ervin W. and May C. (Imhof) Pieper in Yuma. He was baptized as an infant at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Otis, and confirmed by the Rev. R. P. Schulz at St. John's Lutheran Church in Yuma in January 1948.

Although the family lived slightly inside Yuma County, Orville walked (or ran) the third of a mile to meet the bus from Lone Star School, a district in Washington County. He graduated from Lone Star High School in 1948. He attended Colorado A & M College in Fort Collins for two quarters, then returned home to farm.

While fulfilling a two-year draft in the U.S. Army from January 1952 to December 1953, he served with the Eighth Armored Division in Germany. Upon returning from military service, he resumed farming and attended the University of Denver, College of Business and Administration. He was a local part-time Farmers Union insurance agent, and also worked afternoons in the insurance company's home office in Denver while attending DU.

On July 24, 1955, Orville and Bernice Ethel Bryant, an English and Social Studies teacher at Lone Star High School, were married at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Paxton, Neb., Bernice's home town. To this union, two children were born: Kathleen Kim on May 17, 1958, and Todd Bryant on Nov. 7, 1961.

Following graduation from DU in 1959, Orville was a business education teacher at Englewood High School from 1959 to 1961. He returned to the University of Denver to major in educational administration, and received a master's degree in 1963.

He was a faculty member of Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, from 1963 to 1993. During those 30 years, he served as a business education instructor, coordinator of agri-business, and coordinator of community-based occupational programs, (which included Young Farmers, Displaced Workers, and Cooperative Work Experience). While at NJC, he took advanced study courses from Colorado State University, was involved in various organizations, and served on numerous committees.

After winning the Abe Lincoln Look-Alike trophy in the Logan County beard contest in 1976, in conjunction with the U.S. Bicentennial and the Colorado Centennial, Orville presented to numerous individuals a recognition award patterned after Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He also visited schools to give historical information about our country and President Lincoln.

Former church responsibilities included congregational secretary, board of education, Sunday school teacher and superintendent, and men's club president at First English Lutheran Church in Sterling. He also served as congregational representative and zone president of Lutheran Laymens League.

Since his retirement from NJC, Orville continued farming and had been more active in Trinity Lutheran Church, where he was a member of the Board of Elders and chairman of the Preschool Board.

He is survived by his wife, Bernice of Sterling; daughter, Kathleen Trum and husband James of Sterling, and grandsons Jeremy Trum, Jason Trum and Joel Trum; son, Todd Pieper and wife Deborah of Scottsbluff, Neb., and grandsons, Brandon Pieper and wife Afton, Christopher and his son Elija Pieper, Zachariah Pieper, Mark Pieper, and Jacob Pieper; sister, Belva Harty of Sterling and her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Memorial contributions may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church or a charity of the donor's choice.