Elmer DORENKAMP

DORENKAMP, GROEN, OSTENDORF, SCHMIDT, BOELMAN, VOS-VOELKER, VOS, VOELKER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/28/2010 at 10:25:22

December 9, 1920 -- November 25, 2010

BELMOND, IA - Elmer Dorenkamp, age 89, of Belmond, passed away Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010, at the Belmond Medical Center. Funeral services for Elmer Dorenkamp will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 29, 2010, at the First Reformed Church in Meservey. Pastor Rodney Meester will officiate. Burial will take place in the Meservey Cemetery. Visitation for Elmer Dorenkamp will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. today, Nov. 28, 2010, at the Dugger Funeral Home, 111 Luick's Lane South in Belmond and will continue one hour prior to services at the church on Monday.

Elmer, the son of Carl and Lena (Groen) Dorenkamp was born on Dec. 9, 1920, near Palsville. As a young boy, Elmer attended Pleasant Township Country School northeast of Belmond. Elmer then moved to Thornton where he attended and graduated from Thornton High School, Class of 1938. During high school, Elmer participated in marching band, playing the baritone. He marched in the first North Iowa Band Festival. Elmer also played on the Thornton High School baseball team as a pitcher. Elmer was often very nostalgic about his team having to walk through a hayfield to play on their baseball field, which was a pasture. After high school, Elmer began farming with his father. Elmer was united in marriage to Alvina Ostendorf on June 7, 1945, at the First Reformed Church in Meservey. The couple made their home in Mason City where Elmer worked for the Holsum Bakery. First, he drove a truck route in northeast Iowa and then was promoted to employee superintendent. Elmer and Alvina returned to Meservey in 1949 to farm with his father. Elmer farmed his entire life in the Meservey and Belmond area. Alvina passed away in 2000. Elmer entered the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond in 2007.

Elmer was an open, friendly, loving father and friend. Living the life of the Good Samaritan, Elmer was always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need or just a simple wave to those who passed by. Elmer was a life-long member of the First Reformed Church in Meservey, where he was baptized, confirmed and married. He also served as Sunday school superintendent. When Alvina began playing the organ at Bethany Reformed Church in Belmond, the couple became regular attendees. Elmer enjoyed cracking black walnuts. He and Alvina belonged to a card club and loved to play "500". Elmer was the man who did not know a stranger. Where ever he was, Elmer was looking for either someone he knew or a new friend to make. Merely putting his name and address on an egg, created a life-long friendship with people from Massachusetts.

Elmer is survived by his children, Curtis and his wife, Skip, of Belmond; Michael of Mason City; six grandchildren, Christine, Timothy, and Jennifer Dorenkamp; John Dorenkamp and wife, Brenda; Julie Schmidt and husband, Corey; Jason Dorenkamp; one great-grandchild, Lillian; a sister, Marie Boelman and husband, Bud, of Belmond; a brother, Marvin and wife, Barbara, of Iowa Falls; a sister-in-law, Dorothy Vos-Voelker and husband, Donald, of Ames; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. He is preceded in death by his parents and wife, Alvina.
Dugger Funeral Home, Belmond.

Mason City Globe Gazette -- Iowa
November 28, 2010