Inez Sigrid Perli

Inez Sigred (Koopman) Perli, 87, Rapid City, died Wednesday Feb. 24, 2016 at Golden Livingcenter Bella Vista. She was born October 18, 1928 in Rapid City to John and Sigred (Clarin) Koopman. She attended grade school at Hayward, SD and graduated high school at Rapid City High School in 1946. Inez worked as an operator for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. She married John f. Perli, Jr. on Oct. 8, 1949 in Rapid City and they made their home on the ranch southeast of Rapid City on ‘Brennan Lane’, now Antelope Creek Road, where they raised their three sons, Rodney, Richard and Keith. She loved spending time with her family, working the ranch, haying and getting out in the spring to fix fence where she was able to notice all the new life nature brings with the wild flowers and birds singing. She also loved to spend time with each of her nine grandchildren and hunt and fish. Inez was active in the ‘Black Hills Belles Cow Belles’ for a number of years, active and supportive in 4-H, helping her sons breaking to lead and showing 4-H calves and preparing Range Management grass and forage samples and identification books. At the Western Junior Livestock Show, she and John celebrated their wedding anniversary every year. They retired from ranching in 1995 and moved to Rapid City where she volunteered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the Senior Citizen Center. She is survived by three sons, Rodney (Louanne) Perli, Holland, MN; Richard (Sharon) Perli, Rapid City; Keith Perli, Caputa; nine grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; her brother Kenneth (Joan) Koopman, Mineral, WA; her sister Caroline Rann, Jacksonville, OR; sisters-in-law Florence (Francis) Koopman, Dallas, GA and Charolette (Ernest) Koopman, Belle Fourche; and numerous nieces and nephews that were dear to her. She is preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, John F. Perli, Jr.; parents John C. Koopman and Sigred Amanda ‘Clarin’ Koopman; two brothers, Francis and Ernest Koopman and her sister Hilda Koopman.