Gasconade County Republican

Wilford KallmeyerHermann resident Wilford Kallmeyer, presiding Gasconade County commissioner from 1983 to 1995, died Monday morning following a lengthy cancer illness.

Kallmeyer, 85, also served as a Hermann alderman from 1960 to 1964 and then from 1964 to 1972 as the town’s mayor. He also served as chief of the Hermann Fire Department and was on the Gasconade County E-911 Board of Directors since the first election was held in 2006.

Betty Estes, also elected to the first E-911 board in April 2006, fondly recalls Kallmeyer’s service to the E-911 board saying he had the distinct ability to be a moderator when it came to issues which had the potential to create a rift between the northern and southern ends of the county.

“He was very neutral from being a Hermannite all his life,” said Estes. “I thought he was one of our better board member all these years. He never made an issue of anything.”

If a potential conflict arose, said Estes, Kallmeyer had the ability to settle everyone down and defuse the situation. “He was a very good board member,” said Estes. “There was no north-south in his mind. It didn’t have anything to do with Hermann, or Owensville, Rosebud or Redbird. Everything he did was for the benefit of Gasconade County. He was always a very level head for us.”

Kallmeyer brought the business sense he learned from developing a successful Hermann-based trucking business which is still in operation today.

“He was not real outspoken but he was a good business person,” said Estes. “He had a money sense. He was real good for us. He was always on the financial committee. He was good for us.”

Following his cancer diagnosis, Kallmeyer did not seek another term to the board in the April 2012 election cycle.