Kallmer, Floyd "Stub" (1907-2001)
KALLMER
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 5/7/2010 at 15:06:07
Floyd Kallmer - [Jan. 25, 1907]* - Jan. 30, 2001
Tuesday, February 6, 2001
Floyd Kallmer, 94, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001, in Storm Lake.
Floyd "Stub" Kallmer started out none too auspiciously in losing his mother to tuberculosis in his first year of life. He was raised by his grandparents, Aunt Kate and his eldest sister Isabelle in Odebolt. He engaged in such exploits as flying his kite from the top of a water tower and feeling for fish in the Boyd River, catching them with his bare hands.
He played football in high school, and a young lawyer from Ida Grove, Zene White, having seen him play, got him an athletic scholarship to Buena Vista College. Without that help he could not have afforded the $55 semester tuition and $10 lab fee.
Mr. Kallmer did have a car, however, one of only three on campus from 1927-1931. All three were parked in a row outside Old Main on College Street. One belonged to the college's president and the other to to a professor. His car was important so he could get around the counties to attend ballroom dances.
Getting up in the middle of the night to work in his father's Storm Lake bakery couldn't have left much time for sleep. So the young Stub led an intense, though carefree existence while quarterbacking for the Beavers. On graduation day in 1933, he turned down a job for $5 a week at Toy State Bank in Sioux City to become a traveling representative for Firestone. He quit when he was manager of their Corpus Christi, Texas, store to return to Storm Lake to start Kallmer Sales Co., his home appliance dealership for 35 years.
He took his turn as president of the Chamber of Commerce and was an exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge. He was also a member of the country club and a devoted parishioner of St. Mary's.
A widower at 50, his dog Koko fell in love with Dorcas, as he liked to tell it. Koko would turn up at Dorcas's door and Stub would have to drive over and get him.
Almost all his friends and associates preceded him in death, including Z.Z. White, Dr. Howard Pierce, the fearsome foursome of Al Faust, Wayne Flohr, Elmer Knebel, plus Sid Hysted, Milt Rysted, Eno Kilponen, Charlie Zalesky and many others.
To the end he was a quarterback, a businessman, a parishioner of St. Mary's, a fisherman, a golfer, a traveler to Rome, Alaska and Mexico, a father to Robert, James and William, a husband to Edith and Dorcas, the loves of his life.
James settled in Seattle and took Diane to wife and begat Josh and Brent. William wed LaDon and their children are Timothy of Austin, Texas, married to Sunny and Cherlyn of Omaha, married to Brent Humberg. Thus passes a life spanning nearly a century and thus departs a resident of Storm Lake for nearly half a century.
Funeral services for Mr. Kallmer were held Friday, Feb. 2, 2001, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Storm Lake. Father Robert J. Schimmer officiated the 10 a.m. service with Rev. Duane Queen providing the prayer.
Pallbearers were Tim Kallmer, Brent Humburg, Josh Kallmer, Jim Faust, Brent Kallmer and Bob Lovstad. Honorary bearers were Bill Roggow, Claude Thompson, Dr. Robert Mailliard, Rollin Sievers, Bill Johnson and Jerry Seiler.
Burial was in St. Mary's Cemetery in Storm Lake. Farber and Otteman Funeral Home of Storm Lake was in charge of the arrangements.
© Copyright 2001, Storm Lake Pilot Tribune
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Buena Vista Obituaries maintained by LaVern Velau.
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