Chad Burmester

Chad Burmester, 53, of Newton and formerly of Hampton, passed away on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, at Mercy One Newton Medical Center from a short illness consisting of pneumonia, influenza A and sepsis. Chad was born January 12, 1972, in Ft. Collins, Colorado to David and Vicky (Johnson) Burmester. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 5th at First Congregational UCC in Hampton with family visitation one hour before the service. Burial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to First Congregational UCC or the family for further distribution. Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Sietsema-Atkinson Funeral Home in Hampton.

Chad graduated from Hampton-Dumont High School in 1990 and continued his education at Hamilton College where he earned four separate computer degrees, Computer Systems Technician, Computer Information Systems/Programing, Computer Information Systems with Emphasis in Web Design, and Computer Information Systems with Emphasis in Programing and a Legal Assistant/Paralegal degree.

Chad was very involved with music in high school and was a member of band and was on multiple jazz bands. Even though he was not real athletic, his passion was the individual/team involvement in bowling from Jr bowling into adult league bowling and also 11 years of participation in the USBC national amateur bowling tournament.

Some of his accomplishments while incarcerated are the following: graduated from Master Gardener program, hospice volunteer, worked as Suicide Self Injury Prevention (SSIP) watcher, education tutor for last 2 years at IMCC and member of Inside/Outside Choir for 3 years, graduated from Stephen Minister training program, graduated from Victory Bible College International, completed 2 of 3 phases of The Ultimate Journey program, helped run the Story Tellers program, sound engineer for the weekly Church of Damascus Road (CoDR) church services, also playing bass guitar in the Praise and Worship band, member of CoDR inside church council for 8 years, 7 as secretary and half year as Vice President, Chapel library clerk for 3 years, involved with Brothers in Blue weekend retreats, with outside people participating, for several years, dog sitter for dog program, worked in braille department for 2 years and earned his braille transcriber certification from the U.S. Library of Congress.

Chad was involved with many church groups and bible studies. His faith was important to him and carried him through many rough times.

Chad is survived by his parents, David & Vicky, brother Ryan (Molly), niece Mabel, aunt Diana Holden, aunt Sharon Lubkeman and several cousins. He was preceded in death by grandparents Reuben & Margaret Burmester and Lawrence & Arloine Johnson, 4 uncles and two aunts.