Harms, George W 1896 - 1975
HARMS, NOVAK, JOHNSON, MCLAIN, HOUDEK, LEEPER
Posted By: Norman Hjelmeland (email)
Date: 1/21/2022 at 17:18:37
A well known Decorah man, George W. Harms, Sheriff of Winneshiek County for 16 years and beloved by several generations of Winneshiek County children who remember him as Santa Claus, a role he played for 55 years died January 12, 1975 at the Winneshiek County Memorial Hospital following a stroke and pneumonia.
Mr. Harms was born in Bloomfield Township, Winneshiek County, on January 20, 1896, the son of Lizzie Novak Harms and Fritz N. Harms. He attended grade and high school in Calmar and after graduation went into partnership with his father in Harms and Son Transfer business in 1916.
He was a machine-gunner during World War I in the Alsace-Lorraine-Metz sector of France. He returned to Calmar in 1919 and was employed by the Railway Express.
On July 25, 1921 he was married to the former Mildred Johnson of Fergus Falls, Minn. During his early years of marriage, George and Mildred played for many wedding and barn dances, he on the violin or banjo and she on the piano. He also ran two mail routes on contract from Calmar to Prosper, Minn., from 1931 to 1935.
In 1936 he was elected Sheriff of Winneshiek County on the Democratic ticket and held this office for 16 years until 1952, the longest term of any sheriff in the County.
In 1955 he and Mrs. Harms moved to a farm across from Nob Hill on Highway 52 north. In 1957 he started driving a school bus for Canoe Township and later for North Winneshiek school. He also policed dances at Matter's for many years and worked at the gate during the Winneshiek County Fair.
He had been playing Santa Claus for the past 55 years, including the past two years of his residency at the Decorah Retirement Center. His hobby was raising ponies and driving them in the Centennial celebrations and the Mabel-Hesper Steam Engine Days.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1975 at 11 a.m.at St. Benedict's church. The Rev. Edward Lechtenberg will conduct services with burial in St. Benedict's cemetery. Organist will be Al Sensor with Marlin Fretheim as soloist. Steine Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Pallbearers willbe Alan Erickson, Dwayne Houdek, Marvin Houdek, Donald Stromseth, Vernon Vine and Lloyd Wohlford. Honorary pallbearers will be Frank Miller, Harry Haugen, Robert Hitesman, Julian Moe, Mel Sattre, Gene Simenson, Clifford Vine and Ernest Vine.
Mr. Harms is survived by one daughter, Virginia, (Mrs. Fred McLain); four grandchildren, Bill and Jim McLain, farming at home; Barb McLain, teaching in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and Mike McLain, a student at Ames; also two great-grandchildren, Michelle and Jaime McLain; one brother, Harold Harms of Hiawatha, Kansas; one sister, Rosella (Mrs. Charles Houdek) of Burr Oak and one aunt, Mrs. Margrete Leeper of Richland Center, Wis., plus many nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, two sisters and his wife, who died June 23, 1969.
He was a member of St. Benedict's church, a 56 year member of the Halvorson-Giesen American Legion Post No. 266 at Calmar and of the World War I Barracks No. 1266 of Decorah.
Decorah Public Opinion, January 14, 1975
Saint Benedict Cemetery
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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