HERNDON -- Stella Frances (Lippold) Leitner, 97, died Saturday (March 11, 2006) at Harlan County Hospital in Alma.

She was born Oct. 10, 1908 in St Mary's, Iowa to Ferdinand B. and Anna (Leitner) Lippold. In 1917, the family moved from Iowa to Herndon. She attended school at St. Mary's Grade School and Herndon High Schooll.

On Oct. 7, 1930, she married Louis Leitner.

She worked at the Beatrice Creamery in Herndon, the variety store in Atwood and Duckwalls in Oberlin. She and her husband owned businesses in Herndon.

In 1998, she moved to Alma.

She was a lifelong member of the Catholic faith in Herndon and Alma. She was a member of St. Mary's Assumption Church, Christian Mother's Altar Society in Herndon and St. Joseph's Altar Society and Senior Citizens in Alma.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Louis; a son, Dennis; two daughters, Mardell and Diane; five brothers, Urban, Alphonsus, Ivan, Viril and Elmer; and four sisters, Cecelia, Alice, Lucille and Viola.

She is survived by three sons, Marvin of Denver, Colo., Larry of Modesto, Calif., and Ronald of Sheridan, Wyo.; four daughters, Carol Ann Leitner of Denver, Colo., Arlene Swallows of Chatanooga, Tenn., Joyce Splitter of Kalama, Wash., and Linda Carey of Republican City; 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for 10 a.m., Thursday, at St. Mary's Assumption Catholic Church in Herndon, with the Rev. Damian Richards as celebrant.

Graveside services and interment will be at St. Mary's Cemetery.