Beverle Mary (Jordan) Knoeppel

Beverle Mary (Jordan) Knoeppel peacefully joined her Heavenly Father on July 15, 2018. Beverle was born October 22, 1923 at the “old” St Luke’s Hospital in Wellington, Kansas to Neal Dow and Mildred Marion (Naylor) Jordan. In the early years of her life the family moved to the Jordan farm near Freeport, Kansas where she attended a two-room school with talented and encouraging teachers. Perhaps the seeds of her future profession were planted in this environment as she recalled her love of school.  After graduating from Harper (KS) High School she attended Kansas State Teachers College majoring in Education and Psychology with Elementary Education as her career path. In 1945 she met Paul Edward Knoeppel, and in June 1946 they were married at the Freeport Presbyterian Church. After a short time in Emporia, they moved to Wichita where Beverle began teaching at Plainview Elementary. The family relocated to Belle Plaine in 1954, and then to El Paso,Texas in 1959.  Beverle returned to the classroom teaching 1st, 7th and 8th grades at Dolphin Terrace Elementary School. In 1967 she and Paul returned to Kansas both taking teaching positions in Wellington. Beverle taught at Madison and Kennedy Elementary schools.

Beverle was active as a member and/or officer in multiple community and educational organizations including, Sweet Adelines Inc, Wellington Teachers Association, Kappa Kappa Iota, PEO, Order of the Eastern Star, Grandmothers Club Xclusive (Freeport), Wellington Senior Center, National Education Association, Wellington and Kansas Education Associations.

Beverle and Paul were active in various Presbyterian churches in the Midwest and Southwest, and Beverle has served as a Deacon, Elder on the Session, on various committees, Women’s Circle and has taught Sunday School at the First Presbyterian Church in Wellington. They were also National, State and local officers in the National Presbyterian Mariners Organization.

After 29 years in the teaching profession Beverle retired in 1986. She continued her dedication to the community and education in countless ways by substitute teaching and being active on the Board of Directors for the Wellington Senior Center, as a Commissioner on the Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns and multiple ADA and Aging Councils. She served as president of the Wellington Retired Teachers Association while also volunteering for the SRMC Auxiliary and the Presbyterian Bargain Store.

Her loves were commitment to her faith, her family, education, butterflies, gardening and community service. She enjoyed her trips to Ireland and Japan and multiple trips throughout the US to visit her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends, family and former students.

Beverle has been a “giver” all her life. In her role as an educator, through her wide-ranging contributions to community and church, her capacity as a mother, wife and friend, she revealed a warm heart of a true servant and touched the lives of multitudes. She felt genuinely blessed by the local community and the multitude of students in Texas and Wellington that have maintained contact with her over the years.

Beverle is survived by her daughters, Mary Johanna (Kevin) Anderson (Hazelton, ID) and Lucinda Lynne (Allen) Wald (Salt Lake, UT) , daughter-in-law Laura Knoeppel (Sikeston, MO) and sons, David (Wendy) Knoeppel (Castle Rock, WA) and F Jordan (Cindy) Knoeppel (Whitewater,KS), 13 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Paul Edward Knoeppel, her son, Eric Dean Knoeppel, granddaughter Jennifer Lynne Wald, and her brother, John David Jordan. 

Funeral service will be 10:30 A.M., Wednesday, July 25, 2018 at the First Presbyterian Church, Wellington Kansas and burial at Freeport Cemetery in Freeport, Kansas. Visitation will be Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at the Shelley Family Funeral Home in Wellington from 9:00 A.M. until 8:00 P.M. with the family receiving friends from 6:00 P.M.  until 8:00 P.M. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Beverle’s name to the Wellington First Presbyterian Church or the Idaho Diabetes Youth Program.  

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Beverle Mary (Jordan) Knoeppel, please visit our floral store.