- Date Of Birth: March 2, 1926
- Date Of Death: October 23, 2018
- State: Iowa
James Whittemore was born on March 2, 1926, to Laurine Beaumont and Osgood Whittemore in Sheffield, Iowa. He joined his two brothers, Junior and Gerry. Later his sister, Georgeanne, was born. He attended elementary school in Sheffield, and then he moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa, and graduated from Fort Dodge High School in 1944. Shortly after graduation, he enlisted in the US Army in 1945. He was in Japan until 1946 and then went to Germany in 1947. During my WWII post-war security assignment, He met the love of his life, Helene Fassbender. They married in September 1948, and he loved her with all his heart until the day he died. When we returned to the States, he brought four-year-old Brigitta and six-week-old Lark. They settled in Algona, Iowa, and he worked selling brick and tile for his father, who was president of Vincent Clay Products of Fort Dodge. His son, Gerry, was born in 1952. He ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Algona and built three brick homes. He was an avid golfer, fisherman, and hunter with his grandson, T.J., and a bridge player with his favorite partner, Helene. Most of all he cherished his family.
He also loved Beethoven and would whistle tunes like “I’ll Be Seeing You” and “Kiss Me Once, Kiss Me Twice”, to his beautiful wife. In 1968, they moved to Houston and Sulphur Springs, Texas, where he was selling tunnel kilns. Missing Iowa, he returned to Des Moines in 1974. There he sold roofing products for his own company, Mid-West Roofing Corporation. For his 85th birthday, his son, Gerry took him to a Chuck Berry concert in Austin, Texas, and Chuck Berry was 85, just like him. Gerry and he also frequented casinos and won. He was pretty lucky! He started to have some memory issues, or so in 2009. They moved to Minneapolis where his daughter, Brigitta, lived. They remained there until 2016 when they returned to Algona, Iowa. They moved into Good Samaritan Home where he has lived with his wife of seventy years. His daughter, Lark, lived in Algona, and she would bring her cherry pie and chocolate all the time.
Those that he met as he went through those heavenly gates were his mother and father, his brothers: Junior and his wife, Barbara, Gerry and wife, Betty, his in-laws, Josef and Helena Fassbender, his brother-in-law, Chris Fassbender and his wife, Liselotte, and his sweet angel granddaughter, Jenny. Survivors are daughters Brigitta Carnes of Rancho Mirage, CA. and Lark Ricklefs and partner, Steven Riskedahl of Algona, and son, Gerry Whittemore, and wife, Karla Burleson, and my sister, Georgeanne Kuhl, and husband, Condon of S. Harpswell, Maine, his numerous nieces and nephews and six wonderful grandchildren and nine beautiful great-grandchildren.
