Felicitas "Lucy" Kline

Felicitas “Lucy” Josefina Johanna Wilhelmina Zolper Kline, 94, Great Falls, MT (formerly of Clarksville, TN), died Friday, March 19, 2021, at Peace Hospice after a short illness. She was surrounded by her loving children. The funeral will be held on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church with Father Ryan Erlenbusch officiating. Pallbearers will be Mike and Stacey Kline, Debby and Mike Ezop, Bea and Lawrence Duncan. Honorary Pallbearers will be Evelyn and Lillian Kline, and Morgan Duncan. Burial will be in the Kentucky Veteran’s Cemetery-West, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, alongside her loving husband, Laural, who preceded her in death on January 19, 2008. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday March 23, 2021 at Schnider Funeral Home. Lucy was born on June 15, 1926, in Sumperk, in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, the daughter of the late Alfred Zolper and Anni (Pospischil Zolper) Effenberger. She is survived by a son, Michael (Stacey) Kline of Bakersville, NC; daughters, Beatrice (Lawrence) Duncan of Great Falls, MT, and Deborah (Michael) Ezop of Belt, MT; three grandchildren, Morgan Duncan, Evelyn Kline, and Lillian Kline; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Edeltraud Hager; and husband, Laural. Lucy had fond memories of her early life in Czechoslovakia, with her mother Anni and sister, Traude, before World War II changed their lives forever. When the war ended, they were forced out of the country and began a new life in Munich, Germany, where Lucy met a handsome American soldier on the steps of her church. Although she would embark on a memorable cruise across the North Atlantic in April 1957 with the goal of living with friends while she improved her English, she stayed in touch with that special soldier. They were married in June of 1959 and began what was to be an almost 49-year union. After assignments in North Carolina and Germany, the family settled in Clarksville, Tennessee. There, she excelled at being a caregiver to her children, home, and husband, loved her garden and flowers, and being involved with her friends at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. After health issues took her husband, she embarked on another adventure when she moved to Montana to be closer to her daughters. She spoke daily with her sister in Germany keeping her first language of German fresh. In Montana, she took great joy in being chauffeur for her granddaughter, Morgan, and wished her granddaughters, Evelyn and Lillian lived closer so she could have done the same for them. She taught Morgan how to love, give love, and pray for others.Her after school stories regarding what she went through in Czechoslovakia were enlightening, especially how she escaped the work camp she and her sister were taken to. She spent her days freshening up flower beds at her new home and enjoying evenings on the front porch glider. In recent years she had to move to an assisted living facility so she could be cared for during the day. Friday nights she always came over for pizza night or 2nd dinner. Lucy loved her Catholic faith and fellow parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish on Malmstrom AFB, and she did not miss an opportunity to share in fellowship after Mass with coffee and donuts! She will be dearly missed by her family and her special friends, Soon Smith and Tim McAllister, but we know that she is smiling down on us and is happy to be free of her earthly hindrances of walker, failing eyesight, and fractured memory. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org . Arrangements are entrusted to Schnider Funeral Home, 1510 13th St S, Great Falls, MT 59405.