Maria Seelig Hoppe

Maria Kristina Seelig Hoppe, age 73 of Melrose, was called home from Covid 19 on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A private Mass of Christian Burial will be held with interment in the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls, Minnesota.

Maria Kristina Seelig was born December 27, 1946 in Berchem, Belgium to George and Betty (Hellemans) Seelig.  Maria came to the United States at age ten because her brother was ill.  Her aunt lived in St. Paul which is where the family settled. While attending a Catholic girl school, Maria was held back a year because her not speaking the English language. After graduation, she took a number of computer classes.

On September 2, 1989 she was united in marriage to Virgil Hoppe at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, Minnesota, after meeting Virgil at a German Club.  After marriage the couple lived in St. Paul until moving to Melrose in 1999.

She was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Melrose where she sang in the church funeral choir.  Maria enjoyed knitting and crocheting, sewing, working on the Pfaff machine, reading, cooking, baking and canning.

Survivors include her loving husband of 31 years, Virgil Hoppe; step children, Janet (Allen) Conway, Theresa (Robert) Casey, Cindy (Otto) Schulze, and Mark (Shelley) Hoppe, 18 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Sharon Seelig; niece, Crystal (Mike) Zeilbeck; nephews, Michael (Rachael) Seelig and Steven (Laura) Seelig; seven great-nieces and nephews; and many other relatives and friends.

Maria was preceded in death by her parents; and brother, Roland “Raleigh” Seelig.