Roger Kramer

Roger Kramer, age 57 of Waucoma, Iowa, died peacefully of lung cancer on June 2nd, 2019. A Private Funeral will be held on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, in the afternoon at St. John’s Stapleton Lutheran Church. Friends may greet the family for a Celebration of Life at the Waucoma Events Center from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, 2019. Roger was born the fifth of six children on September 27th, 1961 in Rochester to George and Pauline Kramer (Henke) of rural Grand Meadow, MN. He graduated from Grand Meadow High School in 1979. Roger was baptized and confirmed at Pleasant Valley Lutheran Church in Racine, MN. The personification of work, Roger quickly went to work on the family farm until he began farming on his own. He met Jo (Jeanne), his wife and partner of 33 ½ years at a piano burning party a few years later and was married on July 27th, 1986 . He went on to raise and provide for five children as he worked various jobs farming in southern Minnesota, never owning a farm, but always treating the one beneath his feet as his own. He continued this happily, doing the work of two men for Achen Farms in Waucoma, Iowa for an impressive 28 years. Even through many bad diagnoses and setbacks in the cancer process these past months, he stayed current with news on the farm. Roger was a pillar of the Waucoma community, serving multiple leadership positions at St. John’s Stapleton Church, and as a proud and respected member of both the Waucoma Fire Department and the First Responders. Roger Kramer’s body will be buried, but the spirit of his legacy lives on through his work in these institutions and the memories he left for his family of a man who did everything he could to make sure they had what they needed, a mission he tirelessly executed. This image kept his family going through difficult times and during his last few months as he bravely fought lung cancer that eventually metastasized to his bones. He was a simple man who loved his wife, his kids, his work, and his town, with his whole heart and he finally retired peacefully on June 2nd just in time to see the day two of his grandchildren got baptized. Roger is survived by his wife, Jo (Jeanne, Johnson) of Waucoma; his children, Kelli (Jason) Hanken of Ossian, Kayla (Spencer) Pins of Monticello, Kasjen (Lora Driver) Kramer of Cedar Rapids, Karl Kramer of Waucoma, and Kalissa (Craig) Friedman of Waucoma; his beloved grandchildren, Scott Kramer, Carver Friedman, Lucille Kramer, Gannon Friedman, Georgia Hanken; his sisters Dorothy (Lanny) Jacobson, Bev Hanson, Audrey (Joe) Ericksen, Barb (Paul) Rath, and Cathy (Dave) Severson; his in-laws, Judy (George) Bushlack , Jule (Wendy) Johnson, Jay (Stephanie) Johnson, Jim (Sandy) Johnson; a multitude nieces and nephews including great and great-great nieces and nephews. Others left to carry on his work are his long-time employer and colleague Tom Achen, along with the fine men and women of Waucoma’s First Responders and Firefighters, and the surrounding community at large who have poured out in impressive volume from their hearts in the form of thoughtful messages, helpful gestures, food, and prayer. Support from these people and the faithful readers of Jo’s blog have eased the weight of his passing in indescribable ways. Roger is preceded in death by his mother, Pauline Kramer (Henke) and his father, George Kramer; his mother-in-law Evalonne Johnson (Huntington) and father-in-law Carl Johnson; his brother-in-law Loren Hanson; and his great nieces and nephews Rhyleigh Hartel, Max Bushlack, and Samuel Bushlack. Roger and his family would appreciate memorials and flowers in the form of donations to your local fire and EMS services.