Gordon Kingma

Gordon Jacob Kingma West Lafayette - On 16 April 2021, Gordon Jacob Kingma passed away peacefully and in the company of his family at the University Place in West Lafayette, Indiana. Gordon was born on 3 November 1925, in Lafayette, Indiana to parents Jacob and Agnes Kingma. He attended the St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati for 3 years prior to graduating from Lafayette Jefferson High School, then went on to attend Purdue University at night while working full time as a Police Reporter for the Lafayette Journal and Courier. In 1952 Gordon married the love of his life, Barbara Jean Worley and the couple then moved to Indianapolis when Gordon accepted a position at the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce. A couple of years later, Gordon and Barbara moved back to Lafayette where he began his banking career at Lafayette National Bank. He was with the bank for almost 3 decades starting as an Information Officer and retiring as Senior Vice President in charge of Public Relations in 1986. During his career at the bank and following that while serving as President of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Gordon worked tirelessly to improve the community’s economy and infrastructure, helping to attract a growing number of Fortune 500 companies to Lafayette and becoming instrumental in the project to reroute existing railways running through Lafayette to name just a couple of his contributions. And Gordon’s work for the community carried far beyond this as he constantly gave of himself and of his free time: he was Chairman of the Tippecanoe County American Red Cross, President of the United Way of Tippecanoe County, Board Chairman of Junior Achievement, Secretary/Treasurer of Greater Lafayette Progress, Inc., Board member of the S.I.A. Foundation, Trustee of both the Duncan Fund and the Greater Lafayette Catholic Schools Foundation, and Board member of the Leukemia Society of America. In recognition of these many contributions, Gordon was awarded “Young Man of the Year” by the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce in 1959; in 1992 he was recognized as a member of the “Royal Order of the Marquis of Lafayette” and as a member of the “Council of the Sagamores of the Wabash”; and in 2013 he was given the prestigious “Grand Marquis of Lafayette” award. The chronology of Gordon’s life tells the story of a man who gave back to his community, but in reality, he was so much more than that. He was the very best of us. He was the guiding light for his family and his many friends -- teaching each of us how to live a virtuous life, how to love unconditionally, how to be kind and gentle, and the importance of recognizing that everyone has their own unique story to tell. While we will miss him dearly, the family is comforted in knowing that Gordon and Barbara are once again together. He is survived by his 6 children - Cheryl Bice, Nancy (Christoph) Rodrique, Kathy Glover, Gordon Kingma, Annette Moore, and Peter Kingma – as well as 12 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Also surviving are Gordon’s sister Alice Shoemaker and his brother Stanley Kingma. There will be a private family funeral mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral with interment in St. Boniface Cemetery. Due to current health restrictions, no public visitation. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to either St. Mary’s Cathedral of Lafayette or University Place, West Lafayette. Hahn-Groeber Funeral Home of Lafayette is honored to serve the Kingma family. Memories and condolences may be left at www.hahngroeberfuneralhome.com