Served on New Ulm City Council, practiced optometry

By KURT NESBITT Journal Staff Writer

WEST ST. PAUL - One of Minnecon Park's early supporters died Monday of pneumonia at the age of 93.

Dr. George "Doc" Germann died at his daughter's house on Monday, July 1, according to his eldest son, Frank.

Germann served many consecutive terms on the New Ulm City Council. His first term was in the old Third Ward in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

After redistricting, Germann was re-elected to the Second Ward seat in 1967 and held the position until 1980. He was replaced by Joe Herbeck.

Former Mayor Carl "Red" Wyczawski said Germann was an advocate for Minnecon Park as well as a dam project for the Minnesota River, which never actually materialized.

Outside of the City Council, Germann was a member of the Lost Dog and Fox Hunters Club, which promoted conservation of wild game and helped repopulate pheasants and wild turkeys in this area. He was a scoutmaster, a gun safety teacher and a long-standing member of the New Ulm Battery and of the Knights of Columbus of New Ulm.

Germann grew up in Freeburg, Ill., where he worked as coal miner as a young man. He moved to New Ulm from Chicago in 1946.

"He did a comprehensive study of the weather," recalled Frank Germann, his oldest son. "...and he picked New Ulm and he decided, since there was an optometrist retiring there, to buy that business."

Germann thinks his father always had an interest in politics and wanted to be well-known in New Ulm.

Wyczawski and George Germann once attended a conference in Duluth for city officials, where the speaker was the late Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey. At the end of Humphrey's remarks, members of the audience had the opportunity to speak. Wyczawski recalls that Germann spoke about one of his "pet projects" - the New Ulm-to-Morgan Minnesota River dam.

"He felt strongly about New Ulm having a real place for fishing and boating," Wyczawski said.

That idea was the main thrust behind Germann's support for the establishment of Minnecon Park, which began in the early 1970s. As early as 1971, the city had secured federal funding to develop 118 acres of land beside the Minnesota River to develop the park. Plans were drawn up in 1974 and Minnecon Park was platted in July of 1976. Germann offered the resolution that officially established Minnecon Park that same year.

"He was probably more bold than the other councilmen. Some councilmen wanted sidewalks, others wanted parks," Wyczawski said.

"(Minnecon Park) was under the jurisdiction of the Park and Rec Department, but he pushed it, and he convinced the other councilmen to go along with him," Wyczawski said.

Before the Minnecon Park boat access was built, residents needed to take their boats down to the end of Third North Street and encountered problems because no boat access was available, he said.

Boating and fishing were the reasons behind Germann's support of a dam on the Minnesota River. Wyczawski said the DNR and Army Corps of Engineers were "extremely concerned" about the idea because the dam would've flooded many acres of prime farmland, as happened in Huron, S.D., or in the Tennessee Valley during the Great Depression.

"He had hundreds of letters of support, but it never got built," recalled Frank Germann. "He wanted it for fishing and flood control and to create jobs in New Ulm."

When he wasn't busy with conservation or city politics, Germann practiced optometry in a location above Alwin Electric for most of his 60-year career. He retired from optometry in 1984.

Germann lived in New Ulm until 2007, when his family moved him to West St. Paul, a southwestern suburb of St. Paul.

Frank Germann said his father was wheelchair-bound and his immune system ultimately became weakened to the point where the cold he contracted one week ago turned into pneumonia, which ultimately took his life.

He is survived by wife Cecelia, children Frank and wife Joanne; Joseph, Frederick and Helen Curtis of West St. Paul, Robert of Los Angeles and Mary Sue of New Ulm, as well as 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Visitation is 2-4 p.m. Friday at West Funeral home in West St. Paul with Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Church of St. Joseph in West St. Paul. A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at New Ulm Catholic Cemetery. The New Ulm Battery will fire a salute.