'A wonderful man, farmer and friend': Farming family patriarch Jim Goebbert has died
Suburban farming family patriarch Jim Goebbert is being remembered as a man who was passionate about his life's work and loved his family.
Goebbert, 94, of Huntley, died Saturday at home.
Goebbert "lived his days full," grandson Jacob Goebbert said.
"He lived for the journey and not the destination," Jacob said.
Born in 1929, Goebbert graduated from Arlington High School and then served two years in the U.S. Marines in the early 1950s. He married Esther Von Bergen in 1956.
Goebbert's father, George, founded the family business as a roadside vegetable stand in Arlington Heights. Jim Goebbert bought his own 40-acre farm in South Barrington in 1972 and moved his family and the business there.
That's where Goebbert's Farm & Garden Center still operates. It's also where a silo topped with a giant smiling pumpkin called Happy Jack greets visitors.
That giant pumpkin was Goebbert's idea, son Lloyd Goebbert recalled.
"He hadn't seen it anyplace else," the younger Goebbert said. "He thought it would be a great idea."
A Goebbert family tradition began in 1973 when Jim Goebbert's kids started selling pumpkins on the roadside at the farm. That grew into the farm's annual fall festival.
In 1985, the Goebberts opened a second location in Pingree Grove where all their flowers and produce are grown. A second Happy Jack is on display there.
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 250 people had shared their memories of Goebbert and condolences on the farm's Facebook page.
"Jim was a wonderful man, farmer and friend," one person wrote. "I will miss seeing him on a tractor or checking the apples in the market."
Another wrote that Goebbert "built a beautiful legacy with his family & farm."
Goebbert's survivors include his wife, three children, seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Visitation is scheduled to run from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at Goebbert's Farm, 42W813 Reinking Road, Pingree Grove. A second visitation is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 310 E. Main St., East Dundee.
A funeral is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the church.
Burial will be in Ridgewood Memorial Park, 9900 Milwaukee Ave., Des Plaines.
Instead of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Immanuel Lutheran Church Foundation, Immanuel Lutheran School or to any charity.