John Kiburz

John Allen Kiburz was born November 26, 1925, to Ike and Gladys Kiburz. John attended and graduated from Orient Macksburg School in 1942. While in school, John had a great career in sports. John served his country in the U.S. Navy, serving in Guam during World War II. While in the Navy, he attended four prestigious universities: St Ambrose University in Davenport, IA, DePaul University and Northwestern University, both in Chicago, IL and Harvard University for a semester. He finished his academics at Drake University in Des Moines, graduating on May 30, 1949. On the same day, John married Barbara Hoover in the Little Brown Church in Nashua, IA. The couple became schoolteachers in Arispe, Iowa where John saved up enough money to start farming. John and Barb had two daughters, Joy and Judy.

John & Barb became partners with Walt & Sadye Hoover in Hoover Angus Farm and later took over the family business. John was able to significantly expand Hoover Angus by timely, wise investments in land and cattle. John witnessed during his lifetime how Hoover Angus grew from a small herd to one of international prominence, where semen from Hoover-bred bulls is used on 4 continents and numerous foreign countries.

John loved taking the family musky fishing in Canada, and could be found at a farm pond fishing well into his 90’s. John’s other past time included water skiing. John would be the first one to ski on Sun Valley Lake in the spring and the last one off in November. He even water skied on his birthday one year on November 26th.

John and Barb bowled in the 1980s and early 1990s for 35 weeks a year, in the Friday night mixed league at Stuart Bowl. John excelled in the sport of bowling and won gold medals at the Iowa Games in singles and, also, in doubles with Judy. The next milestone was winning $1000 in the Let’s Go Bowling TV Show narrated by WHO Sportscaster Jim Zabel.

John passed away on January 8, 2024. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 67 years, Barb; his brother Ken Kiburz; and nephew Kurt Kiburz.

John is survived by his daughters Joy (David) McFarland and Judy Harrison (special friend Eric Fell); granddaughter Landi (Andrew) Livingston, and his great grandkids Gwen and Ty Livingston.