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Eldon Stutsman

STUTSMAN, NIFFENEGGER, AMISH, HOLLIDAY, DAVIS, BERGLUND

Posted By: Misty Christner (email)
Date: 3/20/2018 at 12:56:52

Source: Iowa City Press Citizen Monday April 1, 2002

Eldon Stutsman, 87
Eldon C. Stutsman, 87, of Hills, died Saturday, March 30, 2002, at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City after a short illness.
Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Sharon Center United Methodist Church in rural Kalona with the Rev. Doug Cue officiating. A Masonic service will be part of the funeral service. Burial will be at Sharon Center Cemetery.
Visitation begins at 7 a.m. Monday and Tuesday at the Peterseim Funeral Home. The family will be present both days from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Memorials can be made to Sharon Center United Methodist Church, Atrium Village or Camp Courageous.
Mr. Stutsman was born August 11, 1914, in Kalona to Calvin C. and Nettie Niffenegger Stutsman. He married Dorothy C. Amish on Aug. 3, 1937. She died July 8, 1986. He founded Eldon C. Stutsman Inc., in 1936.
He was a member of the Sharon Center United Methodist Church, Fellowship Masonic Lodge No. 549, Consistory, York Rite, Corona Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star No. 297, Kaaba Shrine and Iowa City Shrine Club, Old Capitol Kiwanis, Johnson County Fair Board, and Hills Town and Country Club. He was an honorary member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity and an avid supporter of Camp Courageous.
Survivors include six children and their spouses, Ronald and Virginia Stutsman of Riverside, Roger and Sally Stutsman of Riverside, James and Jill Stutsman of Iowa City, Carolyn and Lewis Holliday of Jacksonville, Fla., Donna and Terry Davis of Iowa City and Cathie and Philip Berglund of Iowa City.

Stutsman Remembered
Hills - Eldon C. Stutsman loved people and he loved to talk. Stutsman, 87, died Saturday at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.
"He couldn't do anything without running into people he knew," said his son Roger Stutsman of Riverside. "We could be in Timbuktu and someone would yell his name."
Eldon used his love of the spoken word to build up a successful business, Eldon C. Stutsman Inc. The feed company got its start after Eldon dropped out of Sharon Center High School in the 1930s to help out on the family farm. Eventually, family members said, he took a job delivering cream to area farmers.
"Some of the farmers would ask him to pick up a bag of feed for them while he was in town," said daughter Donna Davis of Iowa City. "He figured he might as well start distributing feed."
In 1936, he incorporated his feed company, which he operated out of his farm.
"In the 1940s he was basically every part of the business," Roger said. "Whatever needed to be done, he did it."
The business grew. In 1948 he moved the operation off of the farm and into Hills to be near the Rock Island Railroad. Son Ron Stutsman said that when he made the move, he had four employees. Now, Eldon C. Stutsman Inc. has more than 100 employees.
Ron, the current president of the company, said the secret of his father's success was simple: take care of service first and the sales will come naturally.
"It was his whole life," Ron said. "He enjoyed going into the office every day. He would walk around and visit. He wanted to be a friend to everyone."
His loyalty was returned. Ron said about 75 Stutsman employees showed up at a company memorial service the family had Sunday.
"To have that many people show up on Easter afternoon," Ron said. "And a lot of them had to come from out of town."
Eldon was also well known around Hills. When Hills Bank created its Community Hall of Fame last fall, Eldon was one of the first people inducted.
"It was done to honor him and his family for their contributionsto Hills and to the area," said Larry Blake, a cashier at the bank. "Eldon always had a good sense of humor. I've known him for 25 years. He's stop in and say, 'Hi' and we'd laugh or talk on politics.
Eldon also poured some of that same energy into the dozens of charities to which he devoted time during his life. Whether it was Camp Courageous or the Kaaba Shrine, family members said, he was always working to help out someone else.
Davis said she got to know that side of her father better after she and her husband moved back to the area in 1998.
"I will just treasure the last four years," Davis said. "I spent a lot more time with him. My memories are deeply embedded in my heart."


 

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