All in a Day’s Work
Wolf fills key roles as mayor, firefighter in Fonda
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-Submitted photo
Don Wolf serves as mayor of Fonda and has been a volunteer firefighter there for more than three decades.

-Submitted photo
Don Wolf serves as mayor of Fonda and has been a volunteer firefighter there for more than three decades.
Editor’s note: This feature first ran in a special publication called Hometown Pride, published June 28, 2025, featuring people and organizations from Fort Dodge and the surrounding area who are making a difference in their communities.
FONDA — Don Wolf is the mayor of Fonda and has also been a member of the volunteer Fonda Fire Department for more than three decades.
On an early June Sunday, on a day many people aim to rejuvenate for the week ahead, duties with both those responsibilities arose. There was a task related to city business, followed by a need to extinguish a grass fire, where Wolf was one of about four firefighters who responded.
“We had a fire call this afternoon,” he said.
That’s the kind of thing that happens in a town of 650 people. Wolf noted that he likes living in a small town, as he’s done his entire life, but with a smaller pool of people, those that volunteer in community groups are vitally needed.
“We don’t have as many people,” he said. “Those (fewer) people are doing a lot to fill the gap.”
At age 18, Wolf began volunteering as a firefighter in Varina (and then later in Fonda) and also as a Knights of Columbus member, about the time he graduated from Storm Lake St. Mary’s Catholic High School and went off to Buena Vista University. He is still in both organizations to this day, for more than 30 years in each.
“I like to be involved in the community and help out,” Wolf said.
Those and his mayoral duties get wrapped around his job in a family business, where he works about 60 hours per week.
“I used to start work at 5 a.m., but I backed that back to 6 a.m.,” Wolf said.
He is the second oldest of four children raised by Mary and Ray Wolf, of tiny Varina. Don Wolf graduated from BVU in 1995 with a double major in math and computer science, then started full-time work in the business started by his father, Ray’s Plumbing and Heating.
That is also when he moved to Fonda. He’s had a lot of stability since then, living and working in the same places. He is one of three full-time employees at Ray’s, where he likes the daily diversity of work topics. One of the employees is brother Dean, while father Ray helps periodically in semi-retirement.
Now at age 52, Don Wolf, with wife Krystal, is raising their daughter Lindsey, who will start college in August, while son Cody will be in high school. He uses the birth of Lindsey to pinpoint the date he became mayor.
Close to the time she was born, Wolf heard on Election Day in November 2007 that people were going to write in his name for mayor. There was no long lead up.
“That was the first I heard of it,” he said.
The mayor position runs for two-year terms, so now Wolf has served as mayor for nine terms and 18 years. He admits that being reelected as mayor again and again means people put value on the job he has done.
Wolf said there are a lot of challenges in Iowa small towns, in terms of having enough money to pay for all the needs of infrastructure for streets, water, parks and more. That’s gotten to be more of a challenge in a period of rising costs and tight tax revenues.
“Trying to fund everything in a small town is very difficult,” he said. “All town councils are in the same boat. You are kind of behind the eight ball. We have done very well with what we’ve been handed in money.”
Through the efforts of what Wolf described as a proactive city council, he pointed to recent projects to pave South Main Street, a major sewer project to address drainage problems, a rebuilt water plant, and the addition of park playground pieces.
The Fonda Fire Department, through some grants, has a relatively new fire truck.
Wolf added that a needed community group named Fonda Hometown Pride fills in gaps that the council can’t afford. That includes a new Fonda sign at the city’s edge, work in the city park, and the likely addition of a pickleball court in 2026.
Wolf said he hears from people almost daily about his role as mayor. He said having the college math degree helps in working on city budgets.
“I just try to make our community better,” he said. “Sometimes not everything is popular. But I try to stand up for my community and to move us forward.”
There is another mayoral election this November in Fonda.
Will Wolf run again?
He thought about the question, and answered, “Probably.”