Kessler Funeral Home

Paul K. Hess the son of Chris and Lois (Brauch) Hess was born July 25, 1939, in Exira, Iowa and died January 13, 2017, after a significant battle with cancer, at the age of 77 years, 5 months, and 18 days.

Paul was baptized at the Exira Christian Church in Exira, Iowa. He attended grade schools in Colorado and Iowa then graduated from the Exira High School. Paul worked many jobs while in High School and shortly after graduation purchased the Dairy Sweet in Exira. He had a manger run the facility during the week and he would run it during the weekends. Paul sold the business to attend Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Prior to and while attending college he drove trucks, was a heavy equipment operator and heavy equipment mechanic primarily working construction on the freeway through Des Moines. While Paul was finishing college he started to work for Frye Copysystems as a management trainee and retired 30 years later as Vice President of Operations. Early in his career with Frye, the company moved him to Toronto, Ontario Canada for five years to run the Canadian operations. Throughout his employment with Frye he was involved with several industry Associations in addition to the American Marketing Association and was a Team Leader with Junior Achievement.

During his employment with Frye, he began purchasing farm land in the Exira area. Many weekends and vacations were spent at the farms improving the land and buildings and taking care of a purebred cattle herd. Paul was dedicated to conservation of the land. He enjoyed building terraces with his bulldozer, grass waterways, head lands, fixing fences and vaccinating calves as much as he did vacationing at some luxurious vacation destination. During this time period he was involved with the Exira Development group and was an officer of a software mapping company located in Exira. He also was elected to the Guthrie County REC Board which he thoroughly enjoyed serving on.

Before retiring from Frye he moved from Clive, Iowa to his farm near Exira where he continued raising purebred cattle and started a trucking business. Several years later he sold the livestock and trucking business. He then traveled for many weeks each year in his RV throughout the United States and Canada spending the winters primarily in Arizona. He eventually purchased a winter home in Tucson. Later he purchased farm land near where his son lives outside of St Louis, Missouri. Paul enjoyed his many trips to Missouri to spend time with his son Justin and daughter-in-law Michelle, who had inherited his love of nature, animals, and the land.

Paul was a member of the Exira Christian Church. He enjoyed traveling, loved to play golf, hunt, and fish, in addition to working around the farms. A highlight of his farming was when his barns were featured in Our Iowa Magazine in 2014 and on the 2015 calendar. He also stated many times how fortunate he was to have worked for a multinational corporation which allowed him to travel the world.

Paul was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Steve Hess.

Survivors include his son Justin and wife Michelle of Foley, Missouri; his sister-in-law Ellie Hess of Earlham, Iowa; his nieces Shondel and husband Chad Beaman of Humboldt, Iowa and Shannon and husband George Ashman of Granger, Iowa; other relatives and many friends.

The family will meet with friends Monday evening, January 16, 2017, at 5:00 P.M. at the Kessler Funeral Home in Exira, Iowa. Funeral services will be conducted by Pastor Glen Meyers on Tuesday morning, January 17, 2017, at 10:30 A.M. at the Exira Christian Church in Exira, Iowa. Interment will be in the Exira Cemetery in Exira, Iowa The honorary casket bearers will be Phil Jorgensen, Jerry Lamers, Ron Graham, Sam Scalzo, the Tucson Estates Golf Group, and the Audubon Country Club Senior Golf Group. The casket bearers will be Dean Bauer, Michael Bauer, Andy Jensen, Todd Brown, Mike Brown, Richard Griffin, Herb Wahlert, and Richard Jorgensen.