Friends, family and colleagues planned to take a moment Thursday, March 20, to remember a longtime gill-netter, firefighter and board member in Spirit Lake.
Wallace “Wally” Jorgensen passed away Friday, March 14, at Community Health Center in Hartley. He was 88 years old.
Jorgensen arrived in Spirit Lake in June of 1958 to start what would be a 41-year career at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery. The decision to relocate to the Iowa Great Lakes more than six decades ago took a leap of faith. He wasn’t sure whether Conservation Commissioners even had a full-time role for him.
Even so, the 21-year-old rented a U-Haul, uprooted his young family from central Iowa and made the move to Spirit Lake. Within a year, he was on the Conservation Commission’s permanent payroll.
“In my heart I felt it would be the right move,” he said as he looked back at his career.
A young Jorgensen rewarded the agency’s confidence by seeking out additional training, including classes taught by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Academy. He eventually became an authority on feeding brood stocks and gill-netting, which enhance the quality of muskie and walleye populations.
“I was very fortunate in that respect,” he said. “The state paid the bill to further my education and I was able to enhance my livelihood without the formal degrees that are mandatory today.”
Jorgensen joined the management team as he neared his 10-year mark at the hatchery. At about the 15-year mark, he attained his dream of becoming a managing biologist — the top leadership role at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery.
He spent 50 years with the Spirit Lake Fire Department, including six years as captain, 19 years as assistant fire chief and 12 years as Spirit Lake Fire Chief. He added another eight years on the Spirit Lake Fire Department Board of Trustees.
Jorgensen was an assistant fire chief with current Spirit Lake Fire Chief Pat Daly joined the department in 1982.
“He was kind of an inspiration,” Daly said. “Everything we did, we kind of patterned after what he did — because it worked. Wally knew what he wanted and that’s what he set out to do.”
Daly said Jorgensen would always back decisions with research. He’d not only study the features of a new fire truck, but he’d make sure the station had space for the new implement.
The Spirit Lake Fire Department is still using a ladder truck that Jorgensen picked out in 2004.
"She's a good girl,” Daly said. “A new one today would take over two years to arrive and the cost would be way over $2 million.”
As of Monday, Daly hoped to use the ladder truck to fly an American flag near Jorgensen’s memorial service or at the cemetery.
Jorgensen loved to run and he supported his hobby as a Dickinson County Trail Association board member. Likewise, he loved to hunt and pitched in as a Northwest Iowa Ducks Unlimited member. Other roles included time with the United Methodist Church board, Masonic Twilight Lodge #329 and as vice president of the Dickinson County Historical Society and Museum.
Lakes residents showed their appreciation by voting for him as a University of Okoboji Winter Games Cheerleader in 2006.
Jorgensen was preceded in death by his wife Sherry, grandson Jackson, brother Jerry Jorgensen of Fort Dodge, and his two sisters Sandy Cayler of Fort Dodge and Pauline Rier of Clarion.
Survivors include son Brian of Sioux City, daughter Rebecca of Des Moines, granddaughters Olivia (Matt) and Alexa (Aaron) of Des Moines, and great-grandchild Julian. Many of his descendants carry on his passion for the outdoors.
“I have loved the Iowa Great Lakes Area since I first laid eyes upon it,” he told the Dickinson County News in 1999. “And, I have been blessed to spend more than 40 year here working and living in a special environment.”