James Cable

1941 - 2018

James Cable

Ames - James (Jim) K. Cable 77, of Ames passed away July 10, at Israel Family Hospice House in Ames. Funeral Service will be 10:00 am Saturday, July 14, at Collegiate United Methodist Church in Ames. Visitation will be 5-7 pm Friday, July 13, at Adams Funeral Home in Ames. Burial will be 3:00 pm in the Hudson Cemetery in Hudson, Iowa.

Jim Cable, the son of Earl and Helen Cable was born on June 4, 1941 at the St. Francis Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. He attended grade school in Hudson, Iowa and graduated from Dike High School in the Spring of 1959. He received a BSCE in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University in 1964 and a MSCE in Transportation from Iowa State University in 1976. In 1994 he completed a PhD in Transportation Engineering from the University of Illinois.

After his initial graduation from ISU, Jim worked for the Iowa DOT in Waterloo until the Army decided to use his degree at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and the Republic of Viet Nam. Returning to the USA, Jim put his efforts to work for the Iowa DOT in Des Moines and then on to the Reith-Riley Construction Co in Indiana on interstate highway construction. His work for the Iowa DOT ended on I-35 construction from the Minn line to US-20 and into planning in the Sioux City, District Office and Office of Advanced Planning in Ames. His last move was to the CCEE Dept at ISU for a 20 year teaching, research and extension position. His research and his love shall always remain close to a bulldozer or slip form paver. Improving the concrete pavement construction process was his task in life and he lived it to the fullest.

Jim married Jeanne A. Putsch on June 21, 1964 in Blue Mound, Illinois. Together they raised two great sons, Matt and Steve. Jeanne died of cancer in 1995.

In 1999 Jim married Elizabeth A. Wilt on May 22, 1999 in Ames, Iowa. This action added Melissa, Dustin and Joe Wilt to the family.

Jim loved the outdoors and enjoyed trapshooting and reloading all types of guns. He could sit for hours and watch wildlife at our home or in the woods and never pull the trigger.

Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Wilt-Cable of Ames; children, Matthew J. Cable (Val Camparo) of Ankeny, IA; Stephen K. Cable (Courtney) of Riverside, IA; grandchildren Silas Cable and Theda Cable of Riverside, IA; step children Melissa Wilt of Oak Park, Ill; Dustin Wilt of Plymouth, MN; Josepth (Erikka) Wilt of Minitonka, MN; step grandchildren Lars and Soren Olson of Oak Park, Ill, Hugh Wilt of Minnitonka, MN; Seth, Nate and Matthew Garland of Ankeny, IA; sisters, Cathy (Jim) Porter of Urbandale, Iowa and Patricia(Steve) Felix of Sioux City, Iowa along with nieces and other relatives and friends. Jim was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife and brother, Edward Cable.

The family requests no flowers, Memorials may be directed to the Bliss Cancer Center, 1111 Duff Ave, Ames, 50010 or the Israel Family Hospice House, 400 South Dakota Ave, Iowa 50014.