Photos courtesy Karen Van Breisen & MarJean Stubbe, with assistance from Amy Jans
George, Iowa — The KIWA-AM Lyon County Daily News program has been going for quite a while in one form or another. When it started, it was actually two programs — the Rock Rapids News and the George Area News. And for a good part of that time, one man has provided the weather information from George — Clarence Stubbe. And Stubbe has just recently celebrated a milestone — his 100th birthday — with no signs of retiring from his weather post, from which he also provides weather facts for the George newspaper, the Lyon County News.
Stubbe is one of the few remaining World War II veterans. He tells us how his service started.
Shortly after returning to the United States, Stubbe joined the American Legion. He has been a member of the Legion for nearly 77 years.
Stubbe was a farmer for most of his life — until retiring in 1985. He says he has weather records dating back to the 1950s.
He tells us he’s probably been giving out the George weather to everyone who asked for at least the last 40 years.
Stubbe turned 100 on April 16, and had two celebrations with different groups of people. On April 8, there was a surprise celebration after his Legion meeting with all his Legion buddies and his family. Then, on Sunday, April 14th, his family held an open house. Stubbe says he received over 120 greeting cards at the open house and many more in the mail.
Of course, our interview with Stubbe was much longer than we have time for on the air, so if you’d like to listen to the whole interview, you can find it below:
We wish our “Trusty Weatherman,” Clarence Stubbe, many more years. Thanks Clarence, from all of us current and former employees of KIWA. And happy birthday!
