JOSEPH R. VOELKER

ALTMAN, VOELKER, SCHEELE, DEWEERDT, ASSELIN

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 7/22/2003 at 11:44:26

Joseph R. Voelker

Telegraph Herald - Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Joseph R. Voelker, 85, of 3125 Pennsylvania Ave., died Monday, June 23, 2003, at The Finley Hospital.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, with burial in Mount Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 9 p.m. today at Hoffmann-Schneider Funeral Home, 1640 Main St., where there will be a wake service at 3 p.m.

Mr. Voelker worked at International Harvester Co. for 14 years. He then joined the Voelker Realty and Insurance Co., which was founded by his grandfather in 1873, He retired as president of the company after 35 years.

He was born on Aug. 26, 1917, in Dubuque, son of Chris A. and Edna (Altman) Voelker. He married Jean Anne Scheele on June 13, 1942, at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Dubuque.

He graduated from the former Columbia Academy and Loras College, both in Dubuque. He was past president of the Real Estate Board, a member of the City Dock Commission for nine years and was active in the acquisition and the completion of the Dubuque flood wall in the 1960s.

He was an active member of St. Joseph the Worker Church and was one of the five members on the building committee for the present church. He was a member of the Dubuque Shooting Society 660 Club for more than 40 years; Squires Club; former member of Dubuque Golf and Country Club; a former member of the Julien Dubuque Yacht Club and was on the planning commission for Visitation Academy, now Jones Junior High School.

Surviving are his wife, Jean Anne Voelker, Dubuque; a daughter, Susan Jean (Marlin) DeWeerdt, of Peosta, Iowa; a son, Dr. James J. (Carol) Voelker, of Dubuque; grandchildren, David DeWeerdt, of Chicago, Amy (Todd) Asselin, of Davenport, Iowa, Chris A. Voelker, Iowa City, and Kathryn Voelker (and fianc, Bojan Dabetic), of Madison, Wis.; sisters-in-law, Gladys Voelker, of Dubuque, and Helen Voelker, Green Bay, Wis.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and two brothers, Dr. Chris A. Voelker and Thomas Voelker.

A Joseph R. Voelker Memorial Fund has been established.

The family wishes to thank the doctors at Dubuque Internal Medicine, especially Dr. Matthew Kirkendall, and the nurses and staff at The Finley Hospital for the excellent care extended to Joe.