Memorials are suggested to St. Mary's Catholic Church on Shenandoah or the Sidney Fire and Rescue Department.

Buddy E. (Bud) Jorgenson was born in the Hamburg Iowa Hospital on September 4, 1926, to John and Lorena Jorgenson. He went on to be with the Lord on May 11, 2024.

He attended school in Sidney from kindergarten to 3rd grade. When his family moved to a farm in Prairie Township he completed his elementary education at Maple Valley Country School and went back to Sidney for high school. He was 14 years old when he got a school permit to drive the family's 1937 Ford to school, picking up other farm kids on the way until graduation in 1944.

He usually worked summers on the family farm, though one summer he stayed with another family and worked for them, earning room and board and $3.00 a week. He also earned spending money by hunting and trapping. He trapped skunks, raccoons, opossums, and foxes, skinning and curing the pelts to sell to a fur buyer in Shenandoah. He could make $10 to $15 a week, with a sometimes bonus of skinning a cow that had died, selling the hide by the pound.

Bud enlisted in the US Air Force while a senior in high school and entered into active duty in February of 1945. He was sent to Mississippi for basic training and then to California as an airplane engine mechanic, pre-flighting airplanes. He met his best friend there; they had some great times hitchhiking, seeing some of California, and working for vegetable packers for spending money. He and his friend Bob stayed in contact their whole lives.

Following his discharge in 1945 Bud returned home to farm and married his high school sweetheart, Mary Nelson, in 1946. They farmed in a few rental situations until they put together the money to buy the farm near Randolph where he spent the rest of his days, until his death. Bud and Mary had three children, Jerry, Chris, and Juli, all students at Sidney, where Bud served some years as president of the Sidney school board.

Bud's commitment and success at farming plus his community involvement led to several farming awards. He and Mary were featured twice as the WOWT Farm Family of the Week. In 1973 he was awarded Iowa Master Farmer where he served as treasurer, vice president, and president. (He was beyond proud when his grandson Jeff was also awarded Master Farmer in 2023.) In 1987 Bud received the Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award by the Shenandoah Chamber of Commerce.

Bud gradually built his farm and welcomed his son Jerry to farm with him in 1973. Jerry died in a tragic farm accident in 1982, which was a deep, lasting sorrow for the whole family. It was a joy when grandson Jeffrey, who had always loved farming and the farm, came to work with Grandpa in 1998, gradually taking over the operation as Bud aged. Bud was still on the tractor at 90, doing his favorite task which was mowing hay.

Bud and Mary were especially close to Mary's twin Elsie and her husband Bill Dodd. They spent many summers fishing in Minnesota or at Viking Lake. He and Mary loved taking their RV to Arizona in the winter, where they would meet up with one or more of Mary's siblings to soak up the sun. This same RV was used for epic fishing trips to Canada. Bud and friends, plus occasionally a grandson, would drive north and then get flown into a lake where they would rough it for a week, growing beards, scaring off bears, and living off fish. Local fishing with his grandchildren was a joy to Bud as well.

Summer's focus was the Fremont County Fair, where his children and then grandchildren participated, and Bud was one of the farmers to be counted on for support. After that, there was the Sidney Iowa Championship Rodeo every August. Bud joined the American Legion Post (who sponsor the rodeo) and began to attend faithfully after he came home from the war, initially on the drill team and then helping seat people in the grandstands. He became part of the Chute Committee, the men who drive the horses and bulls through the alleys into the chutes, exciting and a little dangerous. But it always managed to end safely.

In 1979, when Pope John Paul II visited Des Moines, Bud and Mary were selected to bring the offering, baskets of grain, an unforgettable honor for them. Bud's love and loyalty to St. Mary's Catholic Church was exemplified by his attendance, even when walking with a walker had become quite painful and his hearing was failing. His faith was important to him, as well as the church community.

Bud was preceded in death by his parents, brother Bob, wife Mary, son Jerry, and grandson Jay.

He is survived by sister Janice Myers of Omaha, NE; daughter Christel Jorgenson of Somerville, Massachusetts; daughter Juli (Bryan) Whitehead of Sidney; daughter-in-law Sarah (Dale) Sharp of Council Bluffs; grandchildren Stephen (Kassie) Jorgenson, Jeremy (Leigh) Jorgenson, Jeffrey (Jennifer) Jorgenson, Jane (Tony) Leick, Nathan (Ashley) Whitehead, Elizabeth (DJ) Todd, Emily (Antonio) Rodriguez, and Abigail Whitehead; great-grandchildren Jerry and Haedyn Jorgenson, Delaney and Carolyne Jorgenson, Kaylen (Josh) Schroeder, Noah Jorgenson and fiance Ellie, Cole and Carter Jorgenson, Breclynn and Quinley Leick, Brennon and Milten Whitehead, Eloise and Henry Todd and Myles Rodriguez; and  great-great grandchildren Josie and Evelyn Schroeder; other relatives and a host of friends.