RIP 2008

This should have gone up in January, but I have been missing in taking care of details a lot lately.  For most of these people, I

 have more personal observations which I do not feel comfortable placing on a page whose distribution [how ever small it is] I neither know nor control, but I do not feel that their passings in 2008 should go unnoticed and not receive some comment.  [I note that I never met most of them until they were fairly old, so do not have a lot of interesting anecdotes to pass on.]

 

Jurgensen, George S

In an earlier life, George had been president of the Firefighters union.  I first met him probably 20+ years ago when some matter of city policy [I think it was liquor license distribution] was being considered.  He seemed to always show up when matters of importance to the Lexington-Hamline area were involved.  I suspect that sometimes our city’s officialdom considered his persistence a bit of a nuisance but respected his history and his dedication.

Hedman, Roy V.

He was well into his eighties when he lost the lease on his Payne Avenue barber shop, but he did not retire.  He just opened on Arcade instead.  He did haircuts, not stylings, our of barber shops hearkening back to an earlier era, decorated with fishing and hunting posters and nothing frilly.  He also enjoyed ballroom dancing and he adored his grandchildren and got so excited then his first great-grandchild was born that he had to tell it to everybody who came into his shop.

Weddington, Martin O.

When I first met Mr. Weddington he was a community elder in the African American community in Summit University and was involved with Pilgrim Baptist Church.  I never knew him well, but I remember working with him on a couple of city committees of a major political party and never felt the condescending attitude that a younger person often senses in intergenerational situations.  He also served once as a presidential elector.

Neid Sr., Karl G.  He was a legend before I ever met him which was not until the late 1980s when he used to come with his late wife Mary to the Friday bingo games at Wilder Recreation Center at which his son was a caller.  He was probably overshadowed in his later life by his namesake son, but people who were in Hayden Heights and organized labor over the years asserted me, even thirty years ago, that he and his wife were well involved and active in their own right and in fact probably provided the influence to get Karl, jr. his interest in public service and some connections to help him get started.

Salland, Judge Joseph E

He found me guilty.  Stop sign at Chatsworth and Thomas, 1983.  No judge has done that since.  Of course, if I had not had some dumb guy named Sammons as my attorney I might have done better.

Copeland, Elizabeth Ann "Betty

Founder of Minnesota Hugs, she managed to assist the survivors of many natural disasters.  Although largely housebound the last few years she still managed by telephone, email, and other means to cajole the support she needed from other people and from some of our leading corporations.

Donald H Boxmeyer.  I only met him once, but it was clear that we knew many of the same people.  I don’t know how six degrees of separation is supposed to work, but it was more like there was only one degree between me and him.  I have posted about him previously.

Elna Avey

She lived to 103.  I first met her forty years ago when I was in college and her son was my roommate.  She had just returned from her last stint as a missionary nurse in Assam.  Mrs. Avey was the widow of a British Baptist pastor/educator and had also lived in the United Kingdom and British Columbia, but she had spent almost all of her US time in the Como Park neighborhood.  She had worked at Lyngblomsten after returning from Assam and was appointed by several mayors to serve on the Hubert Humphrey Job Corps Neighborhood Advisory Council.  The Job Corps facility in her neighborhood was located on the former site of Bethel Academy of which she was a loyal alumna.  At her funeral, which was held at Central Baptist Church, a rabbi singing the Catholic funeral song, “Eagle’s Wings.”

Schell, Lowell S

I never met Lowell until he was of an age where he could have been called a senior citizen for quite a while.  I gather that he used to be a milkman.  [Younger readers may have to ask their grandparents what one of these was.  It is pretty much an extinct concept now.]  Lowell spent most of his life in the now-defunct congregation last known as Peace United Church of Christ.  I don’t know all that he did there, but I know that he sang tenor in the choir and time as a congregation officer.  He always had a smile and his memorial service filled the Hazel Park Church.

Reagan, Mary Jane

She was previously known as Mary Jane Rachner and is best known for running for offices.  She had a doctorate in education and her first attempts for office were for school board.  She finally won an election late in life and died during her second term as Soil and Water Conservation Commissioner.  For many years she spoke frequently to the City Council about any of several things and may be remembered best for her opposition to David Thune’s ordinance to include gays and lesbians in the city’s Human Rights ordinance.  I really do not know whether she really hated gays and lesbians and actually doubted that she did, but she did not agree with Mr. Thune on this.

In 1988 she ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.  By the time of the North Dakota primary, the other candidates had all dropped out in favor of George H.W. Bush and she was the only other candidate left.  She finished second.  In the spring of 1989 she rented a table at a fundraiser at Wilder Recreation Center.  I was working the adjacent table for somebody else.  We both had lousy turnout and I had an opportunity to converse with her for a few hours.  It was interesting.  She seemed pleased that I had referred to her as “Dr. Rachner.”  Apparently not many people did.  But I left thinking that she actually did think that she had almost become president.

 

The similar post for 2007 is here.