Bear, James A.

BEAR, BUSCH, WURZER, RIMRODT, MOON

Posted By: carol (email)
Date: 7/26/2007 at 13:39:40

PRESTON — James A. Bear, 61, of Preston, died Friday at his home.

Burial will be in the St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Preston. Military rites will be accorded by the Preston American Legion Post 602.

Miller-Law-Jones Funeral Home, Preston, is assisting the family with arrangements.

He was born May 12, 1946, in New Hampton to Raymond I. and Bernice A. Busch Bear.

He was baptized into the Catholic faith at Sacred Heart Church in Riley Ridge. He was raised in Waucoma, attended St. Mary’s Catholic Grade School, and graduated from Turkey Valley High School in 1963. He graduated from Loras College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English in 1967. He attended Mount St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque, studying theology in preparation for the priesthood.

He left seminary in 1969, and accepted a teaching position at Northeast Community Schools, Goose Lake. While there, he taught composition, college prep writing, world literature, speech, drama and journalism. Additionally, he directed plays and musicals, and advised the high school yearbook staff.

He was drafted into the Army in 1970 and served as a personnel clerk in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He was honorably discharged from active military service with the rank of SFC-5. He returned to Northeast Community Schools in 1972. He received his master of arts in administration in 1975, but left teaching in 1985 to attend law school at the University of Iowa, where he received a Juris Doctor degree in 1988.

He opened a law office in Preston, where he practiced until his death. He served as director for the area ecumenical ministry, leading choirs for the Thanksgiving and Tenebrae services for 14 years.

He was president of the Jackson County Bar Association; president of the local and regional ISEA; chairman of the Maquoketa Area Foundation; chairman of the Preston Library Board; and chairman of the St. Joseph’s Parish Council. He was very involved in the church, serving as the parish director of music and liturgy, as a lector, cantor, eucharistic minister, religious education instructor and parish lay leader.

Survivors include his wife, Annis; sons, Philip and Karl, both of Preston; his mother, Bernice Bear of Waucoma; and four siblings, Janice Bear of West Union, Joann (Don) Wurzer of LaCrosse, Wis., John (ZoAnn) Bear of New Hampton, and Jolene (Dan) Rimrodt, of New Hampton; two nieces and three nephews; and a brother-in-law, Kenneth E. (Robyn) Moon of Cedar Rapids.

A memorial fund has been established and donations will be given to Mercy Hospice and a cancer research program that will be chosen by the family in his memory.

He was preceded in death by his father.

Death date: July 20, 2007
Source: Clinton Herald; Clinton, Iowa