Jerome Welk

Jerome Welk

Center Point

U.S. Army Veteran, SGT Jerome Welk, 78, died peacefully in his Center Point, Iowa, home on Nov. 5, 2022.

Jerome was born, as one of 13 children on May 11, 1944, in Linton, N.D., to Gabriel and Mary (Welder) Welk. In 1965, he joined the U.S. Army. After graduating from basic training, he was assigned as a Private to 5th Howitzer Battalion, 42nd Artillery Unit/U.S. Army Air Corps and deployed to Vietnam.

Jerome, in his younger years after separating from the Army, moved to Minnesota then eventually settled in Iowa. He was a competitive boxer and achieved himself Golden Gloves awards multiple times. He was an avid golfer, Jerry LIVED to golf. When he could no longer be on the course you would find him following golf tournaments on TV nearly constantly.

Professionally, Jerome was a career salesman and had developed hundreds of relationships and friendships through his avenue. His career allowed him to carve time out to commit to his love of amateur golf with his friends.

In July 1991, Jerome took Ruthann Greinke to be his wife. They made their home in Cedar Rapids and finally in preparation for retirement they built their forever home in Center Point.

He survived by his wife Ruth; five children, Jennifer McDonald (Darrell “Coach”) of Indianola, Iowa, Jackie Caraway (Clay) of Vidalia, Ga., Jason Keyes of Illinois, Christine Welk of Vidalia, Ga., and Justin Chess (Shannon) of Marion, Ind.; 11 grandchildren, Daymon Reynolds, Colton Reynolds, Eli McDonald, Ethan McDonald, Ian McDonlad, Brian Welk, Kaci Caraway, Zachary Caraway, Justin Chess Jr., Shelby Chess and Skylar Chess; and nine great-grandchildren.

Also surviving are siblings, Doris Hartze (Pete) of Little Falls, Minn., and Paul Welk (Sandy) of Lodi, Calif., Kathy Schumacher (David) Mesa, Ariz.; as well as numerous nieces and nephews; many other family members in the Massive Welk Clan. Notably, Ruth and Jennifer wish to especially acknowledge the very special and valuable friendship afforded Jerome over the past several years by Patrick Pendleton and his wife Sandy.

Jerome was preceded in death by his parents, four sisters and five brothers.

The family will hold memorial service with military honors ceremony and internment at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery, 34024 Veteran’s Dr., Adel, Iowa.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made in the form of donations in Jerome’s name to stopsoldiersuicide.org/.