Roelofs, Garritt E. Abt. 1900-1976

ROELOFS

Posted By: Wilma J. Vande Berg - Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/12/2010 at 15:13:32

Grand Rapids, Mich.-Services for Garritt E. Roelofs, an expert on agriculture and founder of the Sioux Center, Iowa newspaper, were held Nov. 23.

He died at his home Sunday, Nov. 21. He was 76. The Minnesota native was principal of schools in Holland, Mich., Edgerton, Minn.; and Hull, IA., before being elected to the Iowa Senate in 1932. He published the Sioux Center newspaper and later became the first director of Iowa's Unemployment Compensation Commission.

Roelofs joined the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1938, as a regional information officer. After World War II, he was a civilian consultant in Japan on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff. He also was public affairs officer at the U. S. Embassy in International Development as an agricultural advisor in Bogota, Columbia.

Survivors include his widow and a son, both of Grand Rapids; two brothers and three sisters.

Source: Sioux Center News, December 1, 1976