James Arthur Vollmer

James Arthur 'Jim' was born to Arthur and Christine Vollmer January 9, 1933 on the family farm south of Spencer where his dad had also been born. It became a Century Farm in December 1993. He went to Hopewell country school through 8th grade, and then to Spencer High School where he met the love of his life, Jody Witt. After graduation from SHS, he went to Iowa State College, joined Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, Army ROTC, and graduated with a BA in Farm Operation in 1955. On December 19, 1954, Jim and Jody were married at Bethany Lutheran Church in Spencer. A year later Jim went to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for basic training and then to Ft. Carson, Colorado for training with an artillery unit. In 1958, Jim came home to farm and became Commander of the Spencer National Guard Unit. He also served on the Clay Central School board where his four children graduated. Jim was an active member of Bethany Lutheran Church, serving on council and as a Sunday School and Confirmation teacher. He served on the Clay Co ASC committee, the Clay Co Zoning Commission, as chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, and was a longtime member of the Soybean Association. He served on the National Corn Growers Association and went on a fact finding trip to Egypt, Algeria, Spain and Portugal with the National Feed Grains Council. Jim and Jody enjoyed a trip to Hawaii, cruises to Alaska, Panama and Mexico, but the best cruise was with their whole family to the Caribbean for their 50th wedding anniversary. In 1985 they started vacationing in Arizona each winter. In 1997 they found a place in Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, AZ, where many other Spencer friends spent the winter. They enjoyed volunteering at the Westside Food Bank and Jim headed up crews from Paradise to glean citrus fruit from Sun City backyards for the Food Bank. In ten winters 107 volunteers had gleaned over 500,000 pounds of fruit. Jim enjoyed golfing in Iowa and in Arizona. Each Christmas in Arizona, one of their kids and family would come and enjoy visiting them. In later years, Jim struggled with Parkinson's disease and spent the last 6 months receiving excellent care at St Luke Lutheran home. Jim was proceeded in death by his parents, his sister Lorene, and his brother in law Herb Emrich. He is survived by his wife Jody, his daughters Kathy (Tom) Guttormson of Brooklyn Park, MN, Karen (Gary) Loos of Clear Lake, IA, Karol (Murray) Gafkjen of Spencer, and son David (Michelle) Vollmer of Enterprise, AL, grandchildren: Jonathan, Kaylee, Jaime, Dana, Samson, Susannah, Nola and Michael, great grandchildren Gretta, Ingrid, Asher and Lucy.

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