William Armbrecht

William (Bill) Howard Armbrecht passed away August 29, 2026 at the Iowa River Hospice in Marshalltown following a six month battle with cancer.

Born on May 29, 1948, in Marshalltown, Iowa, Bill was the son and first born child of August W. and Betty V. Abbott Armbrecht of rural Clemons, Iowa. He attended St. John’s Lutheran parochial school, Clemons School, and graduated in 1966 from West Marshall High School. He attended Marshalltown Community College where he was elected President of his freshman class.

The majority of his life was spent on his family’s farm milking dairy cows, farming the ground, doing custom combining and, like most farmers, wondering what Mother Nature’s next challenge might be. He was a lifelong member of the Marshall County Farm Bureau. Bill was also a school bus driver for the West Marshall School District for 10 years. He served on the Marshall County Board of Adjustment for eleven years with 10 years as the Board Chairman.

Although farming was his life’s occupation and he loved the land on which he lived, sports were an integral part of his life from a very young age. He enjoyed football, and girls and boys basketball, but his true passion was always baseball. As their catcher, Bill played for the Clemons Little League and Babe Ruth teams, West Marshall Varsity Baseball, and the MCC Baseball Team in addition to several town teams throughout the years. When his playing days were behind him, he kept in the game and behind the plate by umpiring for 37 years working over 6,000 games in seven states which included four national 16” softball tournaments. He was honored to be inducted into the Iowa 16” Softball Hall of Fame and the National Softball Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, OK. Additionally, Bill was the President of the Marshall County Baseball and Softball Association, and graduated from professional baseball umpire school.

Coaching, as well, kept Bill active in sporting events. For 30 years, he held coaching positions for baseball, softball, football, volleyball, and boys and girls basketball. He coached little league through junior college athletes. For 15 years, Bill also refereed senior high and junior college basketball games. All of this, of course, does not include the thousands of televised sporting events he coached, refereed, and umpired from the comfort of his easy chair.

In recent years, Bill thoroughly enjoyed attending five Kansas City Royals Fantasy Camps in Surprise, Arizona. The friendships and camaraderie with his teammates and KC Royals Royalty were some of his most treasured memories.

His Lutheran faith and devotion to his church, the former St. John’s Lutheran Church in rural State Center has always been paramount to him. He was a life long member of St John’s Lutheran church where he was on the finance committee and served as an usher. Bill supported the Clemons Lutheran School as their athletic director and school board member.

Surviving is his sister, Patricia Cavanah of Estes Park, Colorado. He was preceded in death by his parents and infant brother, Jeffrey Scott. Memorial contributions may be directed to the family for later designation.

Services will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at The Country Cathedral (formerly St John’s Lutheran Church), with burial taking place at St John’s cemetery. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, September 2nd from 5-7 P.M. at Mitchell Family Funeral Home.

Mitchell Family Funeral Home has been entrusted to care for Bill and his family. To leave online condolences, please visit www.mitchellfh.com. Ph. 641-844-1234.

~ Lovingly written by family

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