Eugene T. CRAMER

CRAMER, TERRY, JOHNSON, SCHROEDER, DELOZIER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 3/3/2007 at 15:16:49

Eugene T. (Gene) Cramer, 84, of Thor, Iowa passed away Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007, at the Humboldt County Memorial Hospital, with his family at his side. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 5, 2007, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, rural Vincent, with the Rev. Bill VanNostrand officiating. Interment will be held at Vernon Township Lutheran Cemetery, rural Dows. Visitation will be held Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at Bruce-Graham Funeral Home in Fort Dodge.

Eugene Cramer, son of Jelske and Helena (Terry) Cramer, was born May 2, 1922, at Clarion, Iowa. He attended Wall Lake Twp. #5 country school and graduated from Blairsburg High School with the class of 1940 and from Webster City Junior College in 1942. He served from 1944-1946 during WWII with the US Army in the Pacific Theater. Eugene was united in marriage to Irene Johnson of Dows on June 26, 1946, at Vernon Lutheran Church, Dows. They farmed in Wall Lake Township until 1959 when they moved to their farm near Thor. Eugene continued farming and worked at USG and Mead Containers until retiring for health reasons in 1979. He was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Vincent, and a life member of VFW Post 1856 in Fort Dodge. He had a life-long passion for music, from playing saxophone in his high school band to being a self-taught musician. While guitar was his instrument of choice, any instrument that had strings provided playing enjoyment to him. In his retirement years he had a regular jam session schedule as well as performing with various local musicians at area nursing homes and senior centers. As he always played for personal enjoyment, he was never opposed to those occasional “paying gigs.”

Eugene was preceded in death by his wife, Irene of 43 years in October, 1989. He is survived by two children: daughter Terri (David) Schroeder of Ventura, IA; son Rand E. (Anita) Cramer of Thor; two grandchildren: Capt. Michael (Julie) Schroeder of Hanscom AFB, Boston, and Andi (Damien) DeLozier of Elk Grove, CA; three great-grandchildren: Britain, Brannon and Brenna Schroeder. At the time of his passing, Eugene was a resident of Springvale Assisted Living in Humboldt, where he had resided since January of 2006.

Copyright, The Fort Dodge Messenger
March 3, 2007