Glen Elmer Buhr

Find a Grave

Birth: Apr. 29, 1930

Death: Jun. 24, 2006

Glenn Elmer Buhr, 76, of Des Moines, died of cancer June 24 at the Mercy Hospice in Johnston.

A visitation will be held on Monday, June 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Westover Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, June 27, at Cottage Grove Avenue Presbyterian Church located at 24th & Cottage Grove Ave.

Glenn was born April 29, 1939, in Maxfield Township, Bremer County, Iowa, to Elmer and Lucinda Schroeder Buhr. He graduated from Tripoli High School in 1949 and attended Iowa State Teachers College, graduating in 1952. He received a Masters Degree in German from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, in 1966.

Glenn retired as an associate professor of German at Simpson College in 1997 after a tenure of 36 years. While there, he founded the German Semester Abroad program in Schorndorf, Germany in 1985. That program continues today and offers the students the opportunity to spend a semester in Germany living with host families.

In 1995, Glenn received the Daimler Medal, Schorndorf's most prestigious honor, named after the founder of Mercedes Benz, who was a Schorndorf native. It is presented to those who have realized outstanding achievement.

From 1979 to 1981, Glenn served as the Director of the Iowa European Office for the State of Iowa. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, he worked with business and trade representatives to build relationships between Iowa and European interests.

Glenn served as a Counterintelligence Agent in the United States Army from 1952-1955 and was based in Berlin. Following his time in the Army, he worked briefly for Allied Mutual Insurance before leaving to teach German at Roosevelt High School. It was there that he was recruited to teach German at Simpson College. Glenn was also active in Democratic politics. He served on the Polk County Democratic Central Committee, the Fourth District Central Committee, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972.

He was a member of Cottage Grove Presbyterian Church, Golden K Kiwanis and American Legion Post 728 in Johnston, Iowa.

During his teaching career, he was active in the Iowa Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German.

Glenn is survived by his wife of 50 years, Florence; their children, Barbara Gilmore and her husband, Steven, of Edina, Minnesota; Lori McNichol and her husband, Dennis, of Louisville, Colorado; and David Buhr, and his fiancée, Dawn Troutman, of Des Moines; grandchildren Theodore McNichol, Jackson McNichol, Brian Gilmore and Grace Gilmore; one brother, Allan Buhr and his wife, Veronica, of Denver, Iowa. He was preceded in death by his parents.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Glenn Buhr Scholarship Fund at Simpson College or Cottage Grove Avenue Presbyterian Church.

ARRANGEMENTS BY ILES FUNERAL HOMES~WESTOVER CHAPEL

Burial: Glendale Cemetery Des Moines Polk County Iowa, USA Plot: Blk M

Created by: S. McCoskey Record added: Jul 07, 2006 Find A Grave Memorial# 14852360