Planting the Seeds

For more than a century, one Cedar Rapids family has cultivated kindness alongside apples.

On a hot July day, Bob Kazimour stands on his family’s century-old farm overlooking Cedar Rapids. As chickens wander the yard and miniature horses laze in the shade, he reflects on history, family, and community. When asked what his parents might think if they could see the property today, a tear comes to his eye, followed quickly by a broad grin.

When Bob was a child, the farm and orchard were the family’s livelihood. The Kazimours sold apples, strawberries, and other produce to local stores and at the farmers market, and neighbors often stopped by for a meal.

In the 107 years since Bob’s parents purchased the property, the farm and orchard have gone through a number of iterations. It looks different today – the chickens didn’t live in a converted camper back then – but Bob and his daughters will tell you there is one thing that has never changed: the spirit of generosity that has always grown here.

Putting Down Roots

Bob was born in 1935 to John and Mary Kazimour. Mary emigrated when she was just five years old from what would later become Czechoslovakia, crossing the Atlantic to America on a sailing ship. John was born in Cedar Rapids shortly after his parents made a similar journey.

In 1919, the couple purchased 20 acres of forested land just south of Cedar Rapids off Otis Road. Within three years, they had planted strawberries, raspberries, grapes, plums, cherries, vegetables, and of course, apples.

Bob was the youngest of five children, and by the time he was born, the Great Depression had arrived. But in the Lower End – as Bob refers to what is now New Bohemia and Czech Village neighborhoods – street signs and grocery store labels were written in Czech, and neighbors looked after one another.

“We had keys, but I don’t remember the door ever being locked,” Bob recalled. “We would go to mass at St. Wenceslaus Church and come home to find a neighbor had borrowed some flour and left a note, or they would still be there, making breakfast for everyone. Nobody thought anything of it.”

Growing Beyond the Orchard

Growing up when and where he did, college wasn’t something Bob expected. Like most first- and second-generation immigrants, he assumed his future would be at Iowa Steel or the meat-packing plant. Instead, his basketball talent earned him a scholarship to Iowa State University, where he completed the ROTC program.

Bob had married high school sweetheart Janis Stodola and after serving in the military, the couple returned to Cedar Rapids and had two daughters, Kimberly and Korlin. Bob took a job selling bananas for Dole, traveling extensively through Central and South America, before starting RFK Trucking in 1973.

As the business grew, so did Bob and Jan’s commitment to the community. Through board service and quiet philanthropy, the couple supported nonprofit organizations focused on arts and culture, education, health, and human services. The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, in particular, held a special place in their hearts.

“Her timing was terrible,” Bob joked about Jan’s terms of service on the museum’s Board of Directors. “She was chair twice – once when they built it by the river, and again when it flooded and they had to move it.”

Along the way, the Kazimours have been recognized widely for their generosity, though recognition was never what motivated them. Like John and Mary before them, Bob and Jan simply believed in helping others.

“There must have been 600 people at my father’s funeral,” Bob said. “Everyone wanted to tell us something my parents had done for them that we never knew about. They were just very, very generous people.”

A Legacy in Bloom

In 2022, Bob’s daughters, Kim and Kory, purchased the farm and orchard from a cousin to keep it in the family. Today, the property is home to a nonprofit organization that helps adults with disabilities gain skills, confidence, and joy through horticulture and meaningful work.

As Kim, Kory, and others have brought the farm back to life, its place in the community’s history of generosity has also been restored. Mary Kazimour – known to generations of schoolchildren as “The Apple Lady” – can never be replaced, but her legacy of kindness lives on in the sense of belonging the farm created for others today.

Bob has long been known as a gifted storyteller, but these days he sometimes finds himself at a loss for words when he walks the orchard. Watching his daughters carry forward the family’s tradition of kindness, he is content to sit back and watch the next generation plant the seeds for tomorrow’s community.

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