John D. Breemer, age 64, of Grinnell, died Tuesday, July 19, 2005, at his home. A memorial service will be held 10 a.m., Saturday, July 23, 2005, at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell with Rev. Susan Leatham officiating. Visitation hours will be held from 12 noon to 8 p.m. on Friday at the Smith Funeral Home with the family present to greet friends from 6 - 8 p.m. Memorial contributions may be directed to Grinnell Regional Hospice or to Stewart Public Library. John Breemer was born November 25, 1940, in Des Moines, Iowa and was the son of John D. Breemer, Sr. and Ellen M. Busch Breemer. He was raised and educated in Des Moines and was a 1959 North High School graduate. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Drake University in 1964. John married Alice Mayo on November 17, 1962 in Omaha, Nebraska and to this union were born their daughters, Andrea, Karen and Sarah. The couple moved to Grinnell in 1967, where John worked for the Grinnell Herald-Register as a journalist and eventually an editor. John was a well respected journalist who earned several prestigious awards for writing and research including Iowa Newspaper Association awards for news reporting and editorial writing in 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984, and 1988. John was a devoted husband and father whose interests included politics, national and world affairs, cooking, baseball, and a deep love for the arts. John is survived by his wife Alice of Grinnell; three daughters, Andrea (Michael) Frantz of Dallas Pennsylvania, Karen (Tim) Whitaker of Iowa City, Iowa, and Sarah (Jim) Tanzosch of Grinnell, Iowa; his granddaughter Hannah Marie Breemer Frantz; his sister Susan (James) Wickham of Des Moines, Iowa. John was preceded in death by his parents.