GERLACH, Gene Wayne 1915-2009

GERLACH, ROSEL, PRIEM

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 7/9/2009 at 21:58:47

#1 of 2 items:

ST. ANSGAR - Gene Gerlach, a pioneer in north Iowa rural electrification and a former Mitchell County supervisor, died Tuesday (July 7, 2009) at the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage. A native and long-time resident of St. Ansgar, at 307 S. Main St., he was 94 years old.

A visitation for friends and family will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 10, at Schroeder & Sites Funeral Home, 207 S. School St., St. Ansgar, with a prayer service at 4:30 p.m. with the Rev. Peter Chang of St. Ansgar United Methodist Church presiding.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, at St. Ansgar United Methodist Church with the Rev. Roy Nilsen of Des Moines and the Rev. Peter Chang officiating. Burial will be in Gerlach Grove at the Priem Family Cemetery in rural Newburg Township.

Gene Wayne Gerlach was born on March 1, 1915, on the Gerlach family's Century Farm in Newburg Township, Mitchell County, the youngest of nine children of Frank and Emma (Priem) Gerlach. The Gerlach and Priem families emigrated to north Iowa and Newburg Township from Germany in the early 1870s.

Gene graduated from St. Ansgar High School in 1932, and married his high school sweetheart, Norma Rosel of St. Ansgar, on May 22, 1938. They were married 50 years until Norma's death on Dec. 19, 1988. Gene was a life-long athlete, playing on the St. Ansgar Saints basketball teams in the 1930s and continuing by riding his bicycle daily at his retirement home in Mesa, Ariz., well into his upper 80s. Six times he was the St. Ansgar town golf champion, winning the "Dryer Cup" in 1970, 1973, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1989.

The family includes a son, Gary, born June 8, 1941, and a daughter LuAnn, born Oct. 25, 1945. LuAnn died unexpectedly of leukemia at age 20 in 1965 during her junior year in the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa. A memorial fund for LuAnn established by Gene and his family has awarded nursing scholarships annually for 45 years to more than 100 University of Iowa students. In May 2000, the university conferred on Gene its Citizenship Award, and made him an honorary nurse.

In 1939, Gene began work at the Cedar Valley Electric Co-op (now Heartland) in St. Ansgar. Cedar Valley REA and the Dairyland Power Co-operative were among Iowa's earliest rural electrification projects, initially organized by Gene's older brothers, dairy farmers Earl and Arthur Gerlach, and other area farmers. Over a 34-year career Gene rose from line superintendent to president and general manager of Cedar Valley REA.

"My father enjoyed the perfect career," son Gary said.

"He had the double satisfaction of starting at the bottom as a young man digging light pole holes by hand, and ending up on top running Cedar Valley as president and general manager. He helped revolutionize rural Iowa by bringing the magic of light and electricity to farms and small towns, banishing the drudgery of the old ways. When he and his boys brought the light wires to a farm for the first time they were greeted as heroes."

Gene was inspired by a wide array of community work.

He was a 50-year member of the St. Ansgar Lions Club, and served as a Boy Scout troop master and was president of St. Ansgar Methodist Church. He was devoted to the St. Ansgar Community Schools, serving several terms on the School Board and as president in 1957. He and his brothers in the early 1950s reconstructed old wind mills into light towers so the St. Ansgar Saints could have one of North Iowa's first lighted baseball diamonds. The St. Ansgar Saints Booster Club added Gene and his brother, Wilmer, to their Hall of Fame in 2000, and the brothers enjoyed being grand marshals of several St. Ansgar town parades.

In 1953 Gene was the chairman of the elaborate pageant marking St. Ansgar's 100th birthday celebration - the St. Ansgar Centennial Pageant Program, "The Birth and Rise of St. Ansgar."

Gene was a lifelong New Deal Democrat because of his admiration of what he and his brothers called "the crown jewel of the New Deal" -the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) and its noble work of bringing electrification to rural America. He held various offices in the Iowa State Rural Electric Co-operative Association along with the presidency of the Dairyland Power Co-operative Association of Managers, which includes the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Gene was elected to the Mitchell County Board of Supervisors in 1976, and served two four-year terms. He was chairman of the North Iowa Council of Governments in 1982-83. He served as President of the North Iowa Community Action Organization 1984.

Survivors include Gene's son, Gary G. Gerlach, an attorney and retired publisher of the Des Moines Register, and a daughter-in-law, Dr. Karen A. Conner, professor emeritus of Drake University, both of whom reside in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and his 96-year old brother, Wilmer Gerlach of St. Ansgar.

He is preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Norma; his daughter LuAnn; three brothers, Roy, Earl and Arthur Gerlach; and four sisters, Irma Ball, Rose Nickerson, Lucille Groth, and infant Ruth Gerlach.

In memory of Gene, memorials may be given to the Gene W. Gerlach Memorial Fund in care of the St. Ansgar United Methodist Church, 510 W. Fourth St., St. Ansgar, IA 50472; or the LuAnn Gerlach Scholarship Fund at the College of Nursing, Box 4550, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52244.

Schroeder & Sites Funeral Home, 641-713-4920.

[Published in the Mason City Globe-Gazette on 7/9/2009]

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Gerlach, Gene W.

ST. ANSGAR - Memorial services for Gene W. Gerlach, 94, of Osage, will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 at the United Methodist Church in St. Ansgar, with the Rev. Roy Nilsen of Des Moines and Pastor Peter Chang, of St. Ansgar, officiating.

A luncheon in the Methodist Parish Hall will be held following the services.

Burial will be in the Gerlach Grove at the Priem Family Cemetery in Newburg Township.

Gene W. Gerlach, 94, of St. Ansgar, died on July 7, 2009, at the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage.

[Published in the Globe Gazette on 8/19/2009]

Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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