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.
Patty Judge, who served as state ag secretary before being elected lieutenant governor in 2006, is also a former member of the Iowa Senate.
Kibbie was a tank commander during the Korean War and he spoke about his experience during an appearance on Iowa PBS.
Kibbie was elected chairman of his county’s Democratic Party shortly after he returned home. Kibbie served in the Iowa 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.
Kibbie won all nine of his races for a seat in the state legislature. 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.
