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Prochniak retires with a smile

Staff photo by Fritz Busch After 40 years of service to Brown County, Auditor-Treasurer Jean Prochniak smiles at a retirement reception for her in the Brown County Law Enforcement Center Training Room Wednesday.

NEW ULM — Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Jean Prochniak was all smiles after 40 years of service to Brown County Wednesday.

A parade of well-wishers shook her hand or hugged her at a reception in the Brown County Law Enforcement Center Training Room.

“Thank you does not begin to express the gratitude I have for the opportunity that I have had to serve the people of Brown County for the past 40 years,” Prochniak wrote in her final Brown County Browser column in the Wednesday, June 30 edition of The Journal.

“As my mind takes the trip down memory lane, I immediately think of the people who have contributed to the success that his office has achieved,” Jean wrote. “This was a total team effort as we navigated through many challenges…How lucky I am to have had something that makes saying good bye so hard! God’s blessings to all!

“There are so many have touched my life from current and former team members, commissioners, election judges, city and township officers, landowners, and voters. All of you made my career truly memorable,” she concluded.

A St. George native and 1971 New Ulm High School graduate, Prochniak attended grade school in a class of 13 at the St. George Catholic Church before joining a class of 325 at NUHS.

After high school, she worked at at Alliance and State Bank & Trust plus 3M in New Ulm before taking Twin Cities metro area jobs at Norwest Bank and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“I found something I liked and moved back to New Ulm,” is how she described coming home to work in the Brown County Auditor-Treasurer’s Office, taking the assistant auditor-treasurer job for many years.

Active with the New Ulm Baseball Association, you may find her working at a ball park, playing pickle ball in the morning at Lincoln Park or the New Ulm Recreation Center.

Prochniak also enjoys playing cards, quilting, diamond painting, or visting with family and friends on her patio.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.

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