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Born in LaCrosse, WI 1945, Lived in New Ulm, MN from 1956 to 2004, currently live in Crow Wing County, Bay Lake Township, 8 miles south of Deerwood, MN
Married June 26th, 1971 to Shirley Wittrock from Pipestone, MN. Four children, Jacob 1974, Rachel 1975, Paul 1978, Joshua 1983. Three grandchildren, Anthony 1996 & Harmony Cooley 2006, Christian Swantz 2003
Employed by a Commercial Banking Forms Publisher until 1969, then by 3M Company until 2003 in various capacities in the Quality Control, Quality Engineering/Purchasing and Quality Management fields.
Chosen to represent Lions Clubs International as District Governor 2003-2004 from Southwestern Minnesota. Other volunteer activities include working with Mentally Disabled and the Hearing Impaired. Helped create an independent Hearing Foundation for the Lions Clubs of Manitoba and Ontario, Canada
Since retirement in 2003, we moved to Central Minnesota, to enjoy “lake living” We drive 25 miles to church, choir practice, shopping, etc. We enjoy the eagles, deer, fox, birds, and the occasional wolf that enjoy our “yard”. Mowing 2+ acres is always fun, but to keep busy we joined a Senior Song & Dance Troup called the Geritol Frolics. We put on eight public performances in October to about 3200 people who come from all over to laugh and enjoy our trips down memory lane. I even learned how to do the “Hustle” dance routine for a segment from the ‘70’s (Dressed in a John Trivolta suit) We always have a different Gospel and Patriotic Song section that gives our voices a real workout!
I bowl two nights a week during the winter and am still very active in my Lions Club’s activities year round. We enjoy pontoon rides most every day in the summer. We sold our jet skis last year and haven’t really missed them yet. We did some long overdue remodeling last year and do most of our own maintenance. But…we hope to add more fishing and golfing to the list of our recreational retirement activities this year.
