With former Mayor of Langenburg Lorrie Popp passing away, his wife Connie and son Kevin are aiming to fulfill one of his dreams for the town of building a Welcome to Langenburg signs on both the east and west entrances to the town. The sign will be in place by September.
Lorrie passed away during his term as mayor with many projects he wanted to finish. He had been working on this sign since the year 2020 and the family wants to finish this last project for him as a tribute for his commitment to the town and the area.
Kevin Popp said, “These funds are basically going to go, at least for the time being, in dad’s memory, they’re going to be going to projects that dad would have supported himself if he was still here. In the past when dad started working on this project, there was always another project happening at the same time he focused on”.
The town is looking after receiving donations so the project can give charitable donation receipts. The Popp family and donors will be funding this project. The purpose of the town being involved is that donors can get charitable receipts. The Popp family will contribute the amount of funds necessary to cover the remaining cost not brought in by donors. The town is solely accumulating the donations in a new independent account.
The welcome to Langenburg sign will be located on both the east and west entrances to the town.
Connie Popp said, “This was Lorrie’s dream. This all kind of started when we, I think he started, I found an email the other day from 2020. in my emails about he already had got the design of the sign. He had contacted Iron Works to get the sign done, got a price and everything else. And this was his dream. Somebody had said once upon a time, ‘you know, you don’t know you’re in Langenburg until you’re in Langenburg. Every time we would go driving, we would see a sign entering a town and we’d take a picture of this sign. We’re trying to fulfil his dream because this was one of his things that he wanted to see happen. And it got to be probably could happen in two years of he’d still been here.
The signs will be 8 feet tall and 20 feet long. It’s going to say “Small Town With a Big Heart” at the bottom, and then there’ll be a little plaque saying “In Memory of Lorrie”.
Connie said, “You know, as much as Lorrie would have liked to seen it, I mean, he still had that file in his folder in his office. It was one of his passions.
Kevin Popp clarified, “We didn’t really necessarily have the opportunity through the funeral processes of that to explain exactly what the fund was intending to do. So I think this is the ability for us to just publicly explain it. I mean, this was his passion. This was what his this was something he wanted to foresee in the future. So he’s not able to be here, to foresee it. So we as a family, we will carry it on and say, okay, we’ve completed this. And we’ve made this project and hopefully, you know, he’s looking down at us and saying, well, I’m really happy that it finally got done.
Anything that’s raised beyond the timeline of the sign, or if it’s raised beyond the accumulation of our funds to make the sign work, those monies will still be put to work in the town.
Kevin Popp said, “Dad would have made sure that the quality of the sign was going to be right. He knew the work because he did good work for us. And of course, then, because he did the work for the town, and he got the quote from it in 2020 and this sign was drawn up by him. Dad had a bit of an idea. The final signs will include the castle theme logo of the Town of Langenburg. It’s complimentary to the branding of the town.
Connie Popp mentioned, “We’ve only been in town for 15 years. Wwe haven’t been residents that long, but you mean, he made such an impact in town for the short time he was here. He worked in town for years. He was born in Yorkton, but he lived 6 miles south of MacNutt as a child. When he was four, they moved from that farm site to a place kitty corner from MacNutt.
Kevin said, “Dad basically poured his soul to the MacNutt area, all of his life and then into Langenburg. He has been doing income tax for some clients for 50 years because he would go out to their places. He would do jobs where he helped build projects like the elevator in MacNutt. He would work for the Mennonites in Roblin. He worked for Weldon Morris, then he started working in town with Leonard Wagner until Leonard passed away”.
Eventually he had the idea to branch out with his own business named Smalltown Financial. Connie mentioned that Lorrie said, “I either go on my own or fall on my face. So he started on his own business.
Kevin told about how Lorrie was never one to boast. Helping made him happy. He was involved in municipal governments. “Knowing dad I don’t know if he was ever completely happy. I think the way dad always operated. You see a task and instead of complaining about it, you just figure out how to get it completed. You build a solution, you fix it, you’re done. He was a problem solver. And then what he would do is in the meantime, he already had another list of something he always wanted to do. So I think to him, his most fulfilling moment or his most fulfilling part of his life, was being able to complete challenges he had and he would continue to take on the next one. And I think the ability for him to take on a next challenge, and I think that’s what really bothered him about being sick. His most defeating moment was cancer taking the ability for him to do that, which is really sad. There is a picture I think of where there is a group of people lined up asking to complain and one man in the lineup to help others. He never wanted recognition for anything.
All Laurie wanted to do would just be the good guy. That’s all he wanted to do. He wasn’t looking for recognition. He just wanted to be the good guy. He wanted to be liked, but he didn’t necessarily need to be, you known for his work. Prior to Lorrie’s passing, one main came said, “Lorrie, I want to thank you for all the work that you’ve done for the town. Without you, things just wouldn’t have got done. and he just sat there, he didn’t know what to say because he couldn’t say anything because he didn’t know how to take it because he didn’t want to be recognized. He didn’t he didn’t expect it. He just did it. And that’s just how he was. I think that was to some degree, that was the way he was raised. It was just it was that was just part of being a good citizen was just doing your part to serve your community and serve your serving community, serve your family, serve your church, serve your friends.
You think of the hours of unreal amount of time he spent Jackfish Camp, for instance, that he just went out there and no one would even know he was out there. And they like there’d be people coming and all of a sudden there’s a building rebuilt. and he would do it all himself. He’d never ask for help. He was solution oriented.
The family wants the public to know that this is our wish from our family to fulfil Lorrie’s dream, because there’s no other way we can. Connie said, “I think this was the project that he didn’t get the chance to finish. It is part of our family obligation to make sure we see his project through.He helped people out with so many projects and now the family has a chance to help him on the project that was not finished.
Those interested in donating to the memorial fund can contact the Town of Langenburg and have the ability to receive a charitable tax receipt. Anyone looking for further information can contact Kevin Popp at (306) 742-7795
The family wants people to understand why this is important for them. Connie said, “I just want people to know that this is how we’re paying tribute to Lorrie, because he was a great guy and I don’t think he would even want the recognition for this sign. He’s been working on this for, well, probably longer than six years. If we can if we can finish his last project that he wanted to do, that is our goal. He was good at praising people for their work, but he didn’t like to be praised for his. He was a mentor figure.
Kevin Popp said, “In my belief with this sign is that this is our family saying thank you to the community of Langenburg for accepting mom and dad.
Connie mentioned, “Lorrie said to my granddaughter, ‘I’m going to be the first mayor that’s going to pass away within the first year of being a mayor. I think deep down he wasn’t going to make it. He said to me ‘I feel bad because I have so many things I need to get done’. And I said, ‘you need to focus on your health right now. You can’t focus on anything else’. And that was how he was thinking. He was thinking about other things rather than himself. That’s just how he was. He had a plan for his term as mayor that he didn’t get a chance to finish.