July 13, 1943 - October 2, 2026
Leland “Lee” Edward Poppen, 83, of Willow Lake passed away on October 2, 2026, with many of his family members by his side.
Celebration of Life service will be at 11 a.m. CT on October 12 at Lake Gospel Church in Willow Lake with fellowship and a meal immediately following the service. The service will be livestreamed via the Crawford-Osthus website.
Visitation will be October 11 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at Spirit Lake Presbyterian Church in Spirit Lake. Burial will be at Spirit Lake Cemetery.
Lee was born on July 13, 1943, to Edward and Ruth (Rusche) Poppen. Outside of spending some time in Arizona when he was younger, Lee spent the majority of his childhood growing up on the family farm.
Lee attended the Shady Lawn Country School and graduated from De Smet High School in 1961. He attended Northern State University, South Dakota State University, the University of South Dakota and the University of Arizona, where he earned degrees in education and administration.
During the course of his 40 years in education, Lee served in various coaching, teaching, principal and superintendent capacities in Arlington, Carthage, Isabel, and Willow Lake, SD and Sierra Vista, AZ. Once he retired as superintendent of the Willow Lake School District, he went back to work on the family farm.
Lee married Linda Losey in the fall of 1965; to that marriage was born daughter Michelle. Lee later married Kathleen Hylle on November 7, 1975, and to that marriage were born son David and daughter Nicole.
Lee was active in the church in each of the communities he lived in.
During his spare time, Lee liked working on cars, tinkering in his shop, riding his Harley, hunting, fishing and camping in the Hills.
Lee is survived by his wife Kathleen “Kathy”; daughter Michelle “Shelly” Poppen; son David “Dave” Poppen and daughter Nicole “Niki” Youmans; grandchildren, siblings, and other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his parents; parents-in-law David and Dolores (Ernesti) Hylle; brothers-inlaw James Hylle and Daniel Hylle; and sister-in-law LuAnn (Hylle) Newberg.
Crawford-Osthus Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.