James M. Hubbard

Former teacher, coach, athlete and forever sports fan James M. Hubbard of Arnolds Park, IA, died in his sleep January 30, 2015, at his winter home in Green Valley, AZ. Jim was born August 11, 1935, in Nevada, IA, to Lyle T. Hubbard and Margaret (Hostetter) Hubbard. The family later moved to a farm near Polk City where Jim started school and spent hours fishing in the creek and attempting to teach his younger brother Murray baseball facts and statistics. His father eventually purchased the International Harvester business in Eldora, IA where Jim participated in all sports and set a one-game basketball scoring record that stood for well over thirty years. While at Simpson College he attended the 1955 Iowa State Girls Basketball Tournament and met Maryanna Siekmann from Albert City. This encounter led to their marriage on November 8, 1958, after his return from U.S. Army duty in Korea. Jim also attended Ellsworth Community College prior to his two years in the service, graduated from Buena Vista University after his marriage, and later took post-graduate classes from Drake University and Mankato University during his classroom career. Jim and Maryanna raised their two daughters...[more]

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therine Ann and Laura Beth while teaching in the BoydenHull Community School, the then Sioux Valley Community School of Linn Grove and Peterson, the East Buchanan School in Winthrop, IA, and finally Webster City Community School where Jim taught and coached at the junior high level for 22 years. Throughout his career he coached and officiated baseball, boys' basketball, football, and golf. He was a lifetime member of the Iowa State and National Education Associations as well as a lifetime fan of all sports but especially the Detroit Tigers and Iowa State men's basketball. He remembered his Webster City team playing Ames and watching a ninth grader Fred Hoiberg score basket after basket. Family was very important to Jim who spent many vacation hours driving the family car on trips throughout the U.S. and driving the family boat for water skiers of two generations - his children and grandchildren. In retirement he enjoyed attending the various school activities of his grandchildren in Webster City and in Sheldon. Having retired from education in 1990, Jim moved with his wife to their summer home on West Lake Okoboji where he fished, boated, and hosted family and friends - many of whom had been fellow staff members or former students. Maryanna continued to work for the Okoboji and Terril schools. To "keep off the streets" Jim worked at Walmart giving himself the opportunity to meet many friends in his new community. In 1998 Jim and Maryanna began spending six months each winter in their Green Valley home despite increasing health issues which led to his death from COPD and congestive heart failure. Jim is survived by Maryanna Hubbard, his wife of fifty-six years; his daughter Cathy McWilliams and her husband Steve of Sheldon, IA; his daughter Laura McDonald and her husband Tim of Webster City as well as his grandchildren Elizabeth McDonald, Des Moines; Brad McDonald, Webster City; Stephanie McWilliams, Davenport; and Bruce McWilliams in Iowa City. Other immediate survivors include his sister-in-law Carolyn Hubbard of Green Valley and his sister-in-law and brother-in-law Sarah and Dr. William Eriksen of Elizabethtown, KY, plus numerous nieces and nephews. He was pre-deceased by his parents and his brother Murray Hubbard.