58 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015
Send contributions to: Portraits from the Past, NEBRASKAland Magazine, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370. Or e-mail to
Tim.Reigert@Nebraska.gov. Photos should show people enjoying Nebraska outdoor activities, such as camping, boating, hunting or fishing, and must have
been taken before 1980. We will give priority to unusual photos or activities. When possible, please include a story about the photograph and identify the
people, places and approximate date it was taken. Photos will be returned.
This is a photo taken sometime in the 1940s
on Lake McConaughy.
It shows my father, Otto Poppe, and my aunts
Dorothy Varner (mother's sister) from Cook,
Nebraska and Clara Lipps (mother's sister-in-
law) from Louisiana going for a joy ride in the
fishing boat.
The photo below is my parents' (Otto and
Elva Poppe) farmhouse that I grew up in. It was
salvaged and moved 10 miles west of Grant,
Nebraska. It was in the Platte River bottom and
when the dam closed, the towns were under
water – caused by Lake McConaughy (around
1940). It is shown here after the move with
equipment in the yard.
My grandfather Fred Poppe, from Cook,
bought the farm in the late '20s.
My father and mother then moved there later
and Dad farmed the land.
They are all deceased now, but I believe the
house is still standing today.
– Eldon Poppe, Lincoln, Nebraska
