Emily Wolpers

Emily Kinder Wolpers, 79, died Monday, April 29, 2024, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center after a short illness.

Ms. Wolpers was born Nov. 22, 1944, in Poplar Bluff. She was a 1962 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School where she was a member of the yearbook staff, pep band, Spanish Club, a Bluff Maid of Honor, and the National Honor Society.

A world traveler, she maintained a unique sense of humor about and love for her hometown. She enthusiastically and regularly helped organize family reunions to Current River, attracting cousins and their extended family members from throughout the U.S. to Van Buren, Missouri, for inner tube floats and treks to Jolly Cone.

She earned an Associate of Arts degree and was Phi Theta Kappa at Stephens College in Columbia and a B.S. in elementary education at University of Missouri at Columbia, where she was a member of honorary societies Phi Sigma Iota and Pi Lambda Theta, and the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. After college, she moved to Los Angeles and taught elementary education from 1966-1973. She earned a paralegal certificate at the New England Paralegal Institute at Bentley College in 1973 and returned to Los Angeles to work at the Mattel Corporation’s office of legal counsel.

In 1975, she was married to Nicholas Nelson in Poplar Bluff. They later divorced but remained lifelong friends.

She returned to the Midwest in 1976, saying she missed “bugs on my windshield and the four seasons.” She joined the Cincinnati-based Taft, Stettinius & Hollister law firm, one of Ohio’s oldest and largest, as a litigation paralegal, law librarian, and recruiting coordinator. In 1978, she became their Director of Administration and was responsible for the firm’s overall operations in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Covington, Kentucky, managing administration for more than 220 attorneys and leading a staff of more than 200 people until her retirement in 2006.

Since 1979, she was an active member of P.E.O., an international organization supporting women in education, and a past president of Chapter T in Kentucky, where she served on the state audit committee and as treasurer for the Kentucky state convention. Since 2007, she had been a member and past president of Chapter DG in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

She grew up the daughter of a newspaper publisher whose family owned and operated the Daily American Republic for 72 years until its sale in 1988. She said she always planned to retire in Poplar Bluff to be able to give back to her hometown.

She returned to Poplar Bluff in 2006 to buy and restore a historic home she had wanted since high school; then she began what would be decades of community service as a member and chair of numerous boards.

Ms. Wolpers was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church in Poplar Bluff and served on its church council, endowment committee, and finance committee. She was a board member and president of Downtown Poplar Bluff Inc., a member and chair of the Poplar Bluff Historical Preservation Commission and was a member and chair of the city tree board, a committee formed to save historic trees and manage tree cutting in the city. She served as a member and chair of the Poplar Bluff Public Schools Foundation board and was a mentor with Poplar Bluff Public Schools. She participated in and was a committee member for the Poplar Bluff Public Library’s Community Read program, was a past board member of Patrons of the Arts at Three Rivers College and was a member of Monday Literary Club.

Survivors include her brother, John H. Wolpers II, and his wife, Julie, of Cape Girardeau, Mo.; a nephew, John H Wolpers III, and his wife, Sarah, of Lafayette, Louisiana.; a niece, Annie Wolpers Bohannon and her husband, Charlie, and a great niece, Heidi Bohannon, of Saint Charles, Missouri; and 10 cousins. Her parents, Robert and Blanche Wolpers, and her sister, Mary Wolpers, preceded her in death.

Services will be held at noon Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at First United Methodist Church, with the Rev. John Gregory officiating. Visitation will precede the service at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

The family asks that memorials be in the form of donations to the Emily and Mary Wolpers Scholarship Fund at the Poplar Bluff Public Schools Foundation, 1110 N. Westwood Blvd., Poplar Bluff, Mo. 63901.