Jack Kibbie, a farmer from Emmetsburg who served as president of the Iowa Senate earlier this century, has died at the age of 95.
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack served alongside Kibbie in the state senate in the late 1980s. “He was an individual who really appreciated his roots, understood the importance of being a farmer,” Vilsack said. “He was a powerful voice in the Iowa Legislature. Jack was the kind of senator who didn’t speak often, but when he did the entire senate paused and listened because usually he had something significant and important to say.”
Patty Judge, who served as state ag secretary before being elected lieutenant governor in 2006, is also a former member of the Iowa Senate. “He was a real leader. I appreciated him. I appreciated his background and his understanding of rural Iowa, the way he stood up for rural Iowa,” Judge said.
Kibbie was a tank commander during the Korean War and he spoke about his experience during an appearance on Iowa PBS. “We were within a thousand feet of the enemy and they were watching us constantly and we were watching them,” Kibbie said. “…Right across from us was Manchurians…It was stressful.”
Kibbie was elected chairman of his county’s Democratic Party shortly after he returned home. Kibbie served in the Iowa House and Senate in the 1960s and, in 1965, he led debate of the bill that created Iowa’s community college system. Decades later, in 1988, Kibbie was reelected to the state senate. He spoke with Radio Iowa in 2012 after his decision not to seek reelection.
“This process, you’ve got to love it,” Kibbie said.
Kibbie won all nine of his races for a seat in the state legislature. “When I first came here in the ’60s, there were a lot of 80-year-olds here and I told (Senate Majority Leader) Mike Gronstal back probably 10 years ago, you know, that when people get 80 years old, it’s time for them to get out of here. That’s long before I was 80. Now that I’m 80, maybe I ought to stay,” Kibbie said, laughing.
During the Iraq War, Kibbie was instrumental in creating Veterans Committees in the Iowa Senate and House and ensuring the Iowa National Guard’s Adjutant General delivers an annual address to the state legislature.
Kibbie’s wife, Kay, died in 2022.