Brockmueller, Gordon Lee (1934-2009)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 Apr 6 p. 13

Birth date: 1934 Jun 29

text of obituary:

GORDON BROCKMUELLER

Gordon Lee Brockmueller, 74, of Freeman, S.D., died March 7, 2009, from cancer. He was born June 29, 1934, to Elias and Lillie (Waltner) Brockmueller.

He was baptized and received into Salem Mennonite Church of rural Freeman on Oct. 22, 1950, where he remained a member all his life. On June 25, 1954, he married Shirley Waltner.

He graduated from Freeman Academy in 1952 and from South Dakota State University in 1956. In 1957 he took a position with International Voluntary Service and served with Shirley in Vietnam until 1961. From 1962 to 1965 he worked in the recruiting office of IVS in Washington, D.C. This led to a position as Food for Peace officer with the U.S. Foreign Aid program in Algeria and Tunisia from 1965 to 1970.

The love of farming brought him back to the family farm in 1970, where he remained the rest of his life. In 1988 he was named South Dakota Eminent Farmer, and his portrait was hung in the corridors of Ag Hall at SDSU. He raised and sold certified seed for many years and was a director on the South Dakota Crop Improvement Board from 1983 to 1995. He was a charter board member of the American Oat Association. He made annual trips to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress for oat research funding. Raising purebred registered Shorthorns was his passion, and in 1989 he was named Builder of the Breed, the highest award issued by the American Shorthorn Association. From 2000 to 2005 he served on the board of directors of the ASA. He was active in the World Shorthorn Conference and attended conferences in Australia, Canada and Argentina. As president in 2004, he and Shirley hosted the WSC in the United States.

Leadership was one of his greatest gifts. He served on the board of directors of Freeman Academy and Junior College for 20 years. He and Shirley established a scholarship fund with Mennonite Foundation for Freeman Academy students. He served on the board of deacons of Salem Mennonite Church.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Shirley; two sons, Lee and his wife, Marilyn, of Freeman, and Joseph and his wife, Betty, of Brandon; two daughters, Cindee Evenson and her husband, Tom, and Suzanne Koerner and her husband, Todd, all of Freeman; three sisters, Vivian Gering of Freeman, Cleo Friesen of Mountain Lake, Minn., and Joyce Wipf of Hurley; 11 grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.