Staff photo by Gage Cureton Robert Ubl’s family members and Brown County Historical Society staff pictured, front row from left, Vic Ortiz, BCHS Research Librarian Darla Gebhard, Martha Ortiz, Therese McMahan, Mary Isaac, Mary Ubl, James Younge and Cathy Braunreiter; back row from left, John Braunreiter, Jane (Ubl) Younge, Stephen Ubl, Michael Ubl and Nate Younge; center front row, BCHS Executive Director Kathleen Backer and collections curator Ryan Harren pose for a photo Friday with the donated rocking chair made by the late Robert Ubl.

NEW ULM — More of New Ulm’s history has made it back to the community and into the care of the Brown County Historical Society.

A handmade rocking chair, crafted by the late Robert Ubl, was donated to the BCHS Friday with Ubl’s close and extended family in attendence.

Martha Ortiz, granddaughter of Ubl, donated the rocking chair to the museum after corresponding with Research Librarian Darla Gebhard who expressed the museum’s interest in it.

The rocking chair, made for Ortiz’s late-brother Robert, is one of 17 Ubl made for his grandchildren.

Ubl was a general contractor in New Ulm where he operated Robert H. Ubl and Son contracting business. However, Ubl’s sight began to decline in the 1930s due to glaucoma and he was declared legally blind in 1956.

But Ubl didn’t let blindness and perpetual darkness stop him.

Ortiz said Ubl was a “tenacious man” and continued working until 1964 when he retired.

“He was very self-sufficient,” Ortiz said.

In 1958, Ubl attended the Faribault State School and Hospital to learn some of the skills taught to the blind. Ortiz said it was there that Ubl’s furniture making skills improved and in October 1963, he even sent a rocking chair to then-President John F. Kennedy.

Throughout much of Ubl’s life after retirement, he continued to craft chairs, rockers and stools to occupy his time.

In a Sunday, Oct. 9, 1977 edition of The Journal, Ubl spoke of his profession and decision to stay busy.

“I have to keep working,” Ubl told Journal reporters. “I feel better if I do. If I didn’t do anything, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Ortiz said she remembers Ubl as a kind, loving grandfather.

“He was always a happy man,” she said. “He was never bitter about being blind. The only thing he said was that he didn’t see the faces of his grandchildren.”

Ortiz said she is trying to locate the rocker that was sent to JFK in the 1960s. She said the rocker is still within the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum archival storage, but due to their extensive collection, it may be difficult to locate.

“It looks like they didn’t get rid of too much and they just stored it,” she said.

BCHS collections curator Ryan Harren said the rocker will be stored within the museum’s historical archives until it will be added to rotating exhibits next year.

Kathleen Backer, BCHS executive director, said the museum is “more than privileged” to have the rocking chair in its collection.

gcureton@nujournal.com