Wilmer Tjossem

Wilmer Luverne Tjossem, 92, died Friday, May 1, 2015, in Indianola.

Wilmer was born July 15, 1922, in Ackworth, to Ellen Moffitt and Merle Tjossem. He grew up on the family farm in the Mapleside Community outside Paullina, where his Norwegian Quaker ancestors helped establish Paullina Monthly Meeting, affiliated with the Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends. Wilmer attended Paullina Community Schools into his early high school years when he transferred to Olney Friends Boarding School in Barnesville, Ohio, graduating in 1940. He entered William Penn College in Oskaloosa, in the fall of 1940. After the outbreak of World War II, he was assigned to perform Civilian Public Service (CPS) at various locations throughout the country until shortly after the end of the war, when he resumed his college education at Penn. During a short Christmas leave in 1943, while serving in CPS, he married Joan Eloise Hammerly, daughter of Lawrence and Lucille Hammerly of Newton, who he had met at Penn College. He received his BA from Penn in 1949. His long Midwestern Quaker background led to an offer from the American Friends Service Committee for a job as the finance secretary of the newly created North Central Regional Office of the AFSC in Des Moines. Wilmer spent the rest of his career raising funds for the worldwide work of the AFSC. His success in the regional office led to his transfer in1966, to the National Office of the AFSC in Philadelpia, Pa., where he continued his fundraising work until his retirement. Wilmer and Joan returned to live in Newton. In 2002, both moved to Wesley-the-Village, a retirement community in Indianola.

Wilmer was an early supporter of the Des Moines Valley Friends Meeting and served as its clerk. In his retirement years, he found time to serve on the board of the Quaker publication, Friends Journal, and publish a book on his Norwegian ancestors entitled “Quaker Sloopers.” Wilmer and Joan traveled widely, advocated for peace and social justice, and maintained close ties with their extended families over the years.

Wilmer is survived by his wife of 72 years, Joan; two sons, Norman (Betty) and Bradley (Susie); a brother, Lawrence (Kathryn); and two sisters, Mary Ellen Barnett (Robert) and Ardith. He has two grandchildren, Jenna (Alex) Tjossem-Robb and Bergen. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 13 at Des Moines Valley Friends Meeting, 4211 Grand Ave., Des Moines.