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Joseph Robert Bagby

BAGBY KANE SOLIS ERICKSON VILLALOBOS

Posted By: diane beier (email)
Date: 4/28/2022 at 17:35:00

Joseph Robert Bagby, surrounded by friends and family, died peacefully on Good Friday, April 15, 2022.

Born to Joseph Charles Bagby and Mary Jean Bagby (née Kane) on October 6, 1944, “Little Joe” grew up on a small farm in Buchanan County, Iowa alongside thirteen brothers and sisters: Mary Ann, Francis, Jim, Linda, Pat, Darlene, Randy, Tom, Susie, Gene, Jerry, Wayne, and Sandy. Joe graduated from Saint John’s Catholic High School in Independence, Iowa, and then served his country as a sergeant in the U.S. Army.

With cool hair, a tough look, and a blue ‘65 Mustang, Joe met Dixie Lee Brown. They married on a hot day in October 1968 and continued to love each other through their final moments together, over 53 years later. Joe and Dixie have two children and several honorary children: Tina Bagby Solis (née Bagby) and her husband, Eric Wayne Solis, of Glencoe, Illinois; Todd Joseph Bagby and his wife, Dr. Heidi Lynn Erickson, of Saint Louis Park, Minnesota; and Ana Cristina Villalobos of Bogotá, Colombia.

Joe and Dixie Bagby owned and operated J & D Body Shop, which served Independence and neighboring communities for 49 years. Joe loved his work in automotive collision repair and towing and recovery, and he loved helping people, providing 24-7 emergency services to law enforcement and other public safety agencies, utilities, and the community at large. For many years, Joe provided one of the main attractions for the local Fourth of July parade, a 150-foot procession of shiny black tow trucks, each one towing the next, with lights shining, horns blaring, and candy flying into the crowds. He was tough and kind-hearted, often in perfect proportions, and to anyone who got the opportunity to work with him, Joe forever became the model of what it meant to work hard.

When not tending to business, Joe loved to spend time with family and friends, playing golf, riding motorcycles, hunting, fishing, cheering on the Hawkeyes, and watching “good shows” with a “lotta action.” When golfing, he would often say, “I’m out here just to have fun,” and then prove it by teeing up all fairway shots, taking unlimited mulligans, and slowing up play to retrieve free balls from water hazards. Joe rode his motorcycles all over the country, and each year, he looked forward to the Sturgis Bike Rally and the natural landscapes of the Black Hills, the Badlands, and Devils Tower. He enjoyed watching Iowa Hawkeye football and basketball games and the efforts of Walker, Texas Ranger to administer justice. Inexplicably, Joe could dance just like James Brown.

In his time, Joe Bagby was a farmer, a soldier, a racecar driver, a faithful friend, a loving son, brother, husband, and father, a successful entrepreneur, an everyday student and educator, an upright and charitable citizen, and a good and honest man. He made the world a better place. When no one was looking, he gave potato chips to cats and dogs.

A Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 AM on Friday, April 22, 2022, at the Reiff Family Center - Funeral Home & Crematory in Independence. Burial will be held at St. John’s Catholic Cemetery in Independence. Visitation will be held from 4 PM until 8 PM on Thursday, April 21, 2022. A Rosary will be said at 4 PM on Thursday.


 

Buchanan Obituaries maintained by Cindy Marshall.
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