Irmgard S Hooper 100th

HOOPER 100th

Irmgard Hooper celebrate her 100th birthday on June 25, 2017, with a luncheon in Albany, Ore.

Irmgard S. Siemsen was born June 29, 1917, the third of five children born to Herman and Auguste (Hartwig) Siemsen in Roundup, Mont. She attended small, country schools in Montana and Idaho until enrolling at Granger Academy in the Yakima, Wash., area. She graduated there and continued her education at Walla Walla College (WWC), obtaining her degree in modern languages in 1944.

While attending WWC, her older brother introduced her to John "Jack" Hooper. He and Irmgard were married on her parents' farm in Idaho on Sept. 3, 1944. She returned to WWC and taught languages there while Jack continued his education.

After his graduation in 1953, they and their children, Clyde and Jeanie, joined "The Great Advent Movement," as they called it. Irmgard taught languages for many years to academy students across the country: Auburn Adventist Academy in Washington state, Maplewood Academy in Minnesota, Walla Walla College Academy/Walla Walla Valley Academy in southeast Washington, Jefferson Academy in Texas, Sheyenne River Academy in North Dakota, Campion Academy in Colorado and Rio Lindo Adventist Academy in California. After retirement, she joined her husband Jack on two years of mission service to Hawaiian Mission School and on a mission trip to Africa.

An avid homemaker, Irmgard always had a large garden and froze and canned the produce that wasn't eaten fresh by the family. Most summers would find the family traveling by car around the nation to explore parts as yet unseen — that is, when Jack and Irmgard weren't working on their master's degrees. In 1967, they were the first married couple to earn their master's degrees in the same graduation ceremony at Walla Walla College.

Irmgard's son, Clyde, died unexpectedly in 2002, and in 2005 Jack, her lifelong companion, closed his eyes to rest until Jesus' return. After reaching the advanced age of 90, Irmgard fell in love with Jesus all over again and chose to be rebaptized — because, as she put it, "Now I know what it means."

A recent move into an assisted-living setting closer to her daughter brought a change of location and life patterns, but Irmgard is content with her situation, eager to see her Jesus return.

Irmgard's surviving family includes her daughter, Jeanie and Daniel Reed of Albany, Ore.; daughter-in-law, Carol Hooper of Grants Pass, Ore.; 3 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.