James Garland Toepfer

James Garland Toepfer (aka Jim, Jimmy, Big Guy, Daddeo, Grampo, Gramps,Papa Jim, and Tefflinger) went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus on January 18, 2023 after a fierce battle with old age.

Jim was very fond of saying, "Man, I've had a wonderful life!" Indeed, he did. He was born on July 27, 1928 in Charles City, Iowa, and lived there until the early 1930's when his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin and then to a small farm in Monona Village (that lacked indoor plumbing and possessed an outhouse). Jim loved to share stories about his boyhood rambles across the Wisconsin countryside carrying his trusty BB gun, his walks along the railroad tracks to the hobo Joe's camp to share a can of baked beans, and his fishing adventures on the creeks, rivers and lakes of Iowa and Wisconsin where he'd catch buckets full of bluegills and perch with his 'Pops', Leonard.

Across the road from Jim's family’s farm lived Ernst and Tilly Schneider, whose little granddaughter, Suzanne ‘Sue’ Schneider, was a frequent visitor. The eight-year-olds met when Jim's father accidently ran over her bicycle. Despite the demise of Sue's unfortunate bike, they became fast friends, even creating a whistle signal to the tune of 'Indian Love Call' when one would want the other to come out to play (and, four generations later, it is still used by the family). Whenever Sue came to visit her grandparents in the spring, summer or fall, she and Jim could be found together flooding gophers out of their holes, picking fruit in Sue’s grandparent’s gardens and orchards, or playing circus. However, one fateful day Jim peeked into Sue’s little circus tent while she changed costumes and she caught him. Furious, she picked up her tent and vowed never to speak to him again. She was true to her word for nearly six years...

Jim attended St. Barnard’s parish school and then Nichols Elementary, where his claim to fame was school marble champion. After graduating from Nichols, Jim went on to East High School, and often spoke of his arduous three-mile hike to and from the campus no matter the weather.

One of Jim's proudest accomplishments as a teen was attaining the coveted Eagle Scout rank. He loved to reminisce about his adventures in the Wisconsin Dells that could have been lifted from the pages of a Mark Twain novel, except instead of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, his companions were fellow scouts Rusty Garst and Art Severson.

A boy of many talents, Jim played a mean set of drums for both the Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps and the Madison East band. He never lost the beat, and when given a pair of drumsticks for Christmas in 2020, Jim proved that he could still play with the best of them.

Jim's reputation as a fine athlete was established at East High where he excelled in football and basketball. His uncommon strength, athletic ability, scrappy tenacity, and intense drive would earn him All-City or All-State honors in both sports. Jim would go on to play football for the University of Wisconsin Badgers under Coach Harry Stuhldreher, one of Notre Dame’s famous Four Horsemen. Jim frequently boasted to friends and family over the years that throughout his high school and college football careers, he “...never dropped a pass.”

A born leader, Jim was elected captain of the football team his senior year, and was also voted senior class president. He was a member of the Honor Society, and his combined excellence in sports, leadership, academics, and citizenship earned Jim the prestigious Schmitz Memorial award at East High.

In the spring of 1945, after nearly six years of her vow of silence, Sue called Jim on a dare thrown down by her friends. Sue's Central High School was having a dance and she invited Jim to be her date. Jim shyly accepted. The 'country bumpkin', as he liked to refer to himself, was terrified. He’d never been on a date before, nor did he know how to dance. Scraping together 50 cents, he signed up for dance lessons at the Arthur Murray dance studio in Madison where he learned to jitterbug. According to Jim, he and Sue cut quite a rug the night of the dance and brought down the house with their skillful moves. The date was a huge success which led to a five-year courtship and then to marriage on June 18, 1950 at the University of Wisconsin chapel.

Jim, who had taken a hiatus from his college studies after his sophomore year, was working for the Wisconsin Power & Light as a draftsman when, in 1952, he was drafted into the army during the Korean war. The newlyweds spent nearly two years apart as Jim served in Germany with a topography unit, drawing up maps and strategies in the Black Forest. After the war, he returned home to Madison and Sue and resumed his studies at the University of Wisconsin. The couple welcomed their first child, Nancy Ann, on December 29, 1955, and the following spring Jim graduated with a degree in City Planning.

Shortly after graduation, Jim sent out resumes and job applications. Their finances were sparse, and traveling to interviews was costly, so most of his searches were within driving distance of Madison. On a whim, Jim sent an application to the City of Santa Ana's engineering department in California and surprisingly received a job offer almost immediately without so much as an interview. He accepted the position, and his little family headed west. Only after entering the Human Resource manager's office on his first day of work did he discover how he had landed the job, for sitting at the secretary's desk was none other than one of Jim's old classmates from East High. The manager quickly explained how his secretary had brought Jim's job application to him and told him, "Hire this guy; he's a good one." And so he did. Jim loved working for the City and met life-long friends there.

In 1960, Jim left the City and went to work for the Orange County Engineering Department. By this time Jim and Sue had welcomed their second daughter, Diane, and their family would be complete. While working for the County Jim met a young lawyer by the name of Phil Reilly. Their friendship would change the course of many lives when, in October of 1963, Phil invited Jim to join him and a young entrepreneur by the name of Donald Bren to form a company and build a city on a large part of the O'Neill Ranch that would become Mission Viejo.

With cautious excitement, Jim left the County to help plan the new community. Drawing on his love of family, his Christian values, and his ability to envision and dream big, Jim would unleash his immense talents as a true city planner as he, Reilly, and Bren joined forces to create a blueprint for a unique community that would attract people of all ages. Reilly would later say that it was Jim's genuineness and small-town boy personality that won the Orange County Commissioners over and paved the way for zoning approvals that were key to securing the groundbreaking of the new community.

Approximately 15 years after starting Mission Viejo, Reilly sent Jim to Colorado to look at a large piece of property just south of Denver. The site was prime, but convincing Douglas County residents and state and local government officials to let this California-based company come to build a city was very challenging. Ultimately, it was Jim’s down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with all people that opened doors for Mission Viejo Company to acquire the Phipps Ranch. Likewise, Jim especially appreciated the qualities of the local Douglas County Commissioners and locals with whom he formed lasting friendships, some of whom had been his toughest opponents when first he came to Colorado.

Throughout the years, Jim and Sue never missed their daughters' swim meets (both Nancy and Diane were original members of the Mission Viejo Nadadores), tennis matches, or any other competition or event in which the girls competed. Summers found Jim and his family fishing in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and Canada, or splashing around on Lake Powell with good friends. When Jim retired in 1987 he and Sue spent much of their time traveling with close friends. Once the grandchildren came along, however, the couple could be found cheering them on at various sports and extracurricular events, from football, basketball, track, baseball, and volleyball, to the odd speech and debate tournament where few spectators were allowed. After Sue’s death in 2008, Jim continued this tradition as long as he could with his great-grandchildren, venturing out to little league baseball games, flag football tournaments, swim meets, and band concerts. He also loved to perform magic tricks for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren and their friends.

Sue’s death hit Jim very hard. They had been married for almost 58 years, but their friendship stretched back some 70 years. No one would ever fill the void she left, and though he was known as a nonagenarian flirt, he could often be heard wistfully saying, “I’m not a ladies’ man, I am ONE lady’s man.” The sudden loss of his beloved dog, Gus, in 2019, and the untimely death of his daughter, Nancy, in 2021, dealt Jim hard blows. Then, in March of 2022, he suffered a severe stroke from which he miraculously recovered. However, by September the constant enforcement of Covid protocols at his retirement home, which included frequent isolations and quarantines, proved the last straw for the gregarious extrovert. Longing for the simpler and kinder days of old, Jim simply took to his bed and rarely got out of it. Five months later, on January 18, 2023, he finally left the cares of this world behind and entered into peace while surrounded by loved ones as he listened to 'Beautiful Savior', one of his favorite hymns.

Jim is survived by his daughter, Diane T Dykstra (Forrest), five grandchildren, Katie (Lucas Kruse), Laura, Jenna (Mike Weldon), Will (Chelsea), and Max (Casey), along with eight great-grandchildren, Dane, Ben, Harley, Charlie, Rees, Cy, Jack, and Henry. He is also survived by his sister, Nancy (Bert Hutchison), brother Kent (Betsy), many dear nieces and nephews, and son-in-law Scott Willett. He was preceded in death by his wife Suzanne (Schneider), daughter Nancy (Willett), father Leonard, mother Vera, and sister Elaine (Gervase Gernetzke), as well as many dear old friends.

Please, no donations or flowers. Just hug your loved ones tight. If there is estrangement, make up! And if there is sadness, smile and think of Jim and his peculiar sense of humor, not to mention his impressive number of emails he'd send that required special translation skills to decipher.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.olingerchapelhill.com for the Toepfer family.