Linus Rothmeyer

Linus “Linny” Francis Rothmeyer, 89, of Calmar, Iowa, died Friday, November 5, 2021, at Barthell Eastern Star Home in Decorah, Iowa. Funeral services were held Saturday November 20, 2021 at the Calmar Lutheran Church, Calmar, Iowa with Rev, Daryl Thompson and Deacon MaryAnn Schwabe officiating. Interment was in the Calmar Lutheran Cemetery, Calmar, Iowa.

Linny was born October 4, 1932, near Ossian, Iowa, the son of Herbert and Rose (Gerleman) Rothmeyer. He graduated from Calmar High School in 1950 and received a B.S. in agricultural education from Iowa State University in 1954. One week later, on June 19, he married his high school sweetheart, Elsie Kiel, at Bethesda Lutheran Church in Ames, Iowa. They accepted teaching positions in Reinbeck, Iowa, with Linny serving as a high school vocational agriculture teacher. On their first anniversary, Linny received his military orders, having been part of ROTC during college. He spent the next few years serving in the Army in Fort Sill (Oklahoma), Fort Riley (Kansas), and Korea, ending his military service as a first lieutenant. 

Always feeling a call to farming, he and Elsie returned to her family farm near Calmar, Iowa, becoming the fifth generation to care for this land. In 1959, they welcomed the sixth generation when their daughter Sue Ellen was born. In addition to his vocation as farmer, Linny also lived out his vocation through many forms of community service, holding leadership roles in his congregation at Calmar Lutheran Church; serving on the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors, which he chaired for six years; and spending 34 years on the board of Northeast Iowa Community College, 15 years as chair. In his spare time, he enjoyed traveling, golfing, playing cards, and dancing, and was an ardent fan of the Chicago Cubs and the Iowa State Cyclones!

Linny was preceded in death by his parents, parents-in-law Julius and Josephine Kiel, wife Elsie, brother Lawrence, sisters-in-law Vila, Marilyn, and Sandra, brothers-in-law Sterling and Edward, niece Rose, and nephews Kurt and Joseph. His memory will live on with his daughter Sue, sisters Ruth and Rosetta, brother Lester, sister-in-law Elizabeth, brother-in-law Gerald, several nieces and nephews, and family and friends who loved him dearly!