Column: More memories of the late mayor

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 1, 2002

This city can take pride in the way it honored the memory of former Mayor Marvin Eugene Wangen who died on Monday, Jan.

Friday, February 01, 2002

This city can take pride in the way it honored the memory of former Mayor Marvin Eugene Wangen who died on Monday, Jan. 21.

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This newspaper can certainly take pride in the front page article David Rask Behling and Masaaki Harada wrote for the Tuesday, Jan. 22, issue. Let’s also add to this the excellent editorial in the Wednesday, Jan. 23, issue which was written by Dylan Belden.

A special mention is certainly due for KAAL-TV over in Austin for the coverage given to Albert Lea’s mayor who served from 1991 to 2001.

Now, I’d like to add a few more personal thoughts and observations about the man I knew as Marv and Mayor Marv.

My first contacts with Marv came during the years I was working for Olson Manufacturing Co. He was then working with an advertising firm named Putnam and Wangen. In later years our contacts came about socially and as a result of my employment by the Albert Lea Tribune.

Marv was a very talented graphic artist. Visual proof of this can be seen with the city’s official emblem or logo. He’s the person who created the blue, white and green sailboat on water design which has been added to this column in the black and white version.

At the visitation in Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home a flag with this design was hanging on the wall above his casket. This inspired me to ask Marv’s son, Aaron, if his father created this design. The answer was affirmative.

Come to think of it, this sailboat emblem could be one of Marv’s legacies to the people of Albert Lea.

One interesting memory I have of Mayor Marv is based on his participation in a short program at the Freeborn County Fair a few years ago. He was there to officially welcome a brass band from Germany.

This musical group was Die Knabenkappelle Dachau. One of the young ladies in the band announced to the players in German that the burgermeister (mayor) of Albert Lea would say a few remarks, then repeated her message in English. (The band’s leader or kappellmeister didn’t speak English.)

What may have surprised the members of this German band and the area people in the audience was Marv’s response. He started his greetings in German, then switched to English.

I later asked him where the proficiency in the German language had been acquired. Marv replied that part of his ancestry was German, plus the fact that he grew up in Pickerel Lake Township at a time when some folks were still speaking German.

During my years here at the Tribune, I’ve had several assignments to cover city council pre-agenda and regular meetings, and a multitude of official mayoral proclamation photos. All the mayors I worked with were very cooperative. And the most cooperative and the one with the easiest access was Mayor Marv.

One of Marv’s favorite activities, depending on the weather, was motorcycling. I confirmed this a few years ago when I met him while covering a reunion of the Falcon Motorcycle Club members from several decades ago.

Marv’s Tribune obituary listed many of his accomplishments and other activities. The latest accomplishment he was certainly enjoying in his retirement was to portray the character of Colonel Albert M. Lea at various events for the Freeborn County Historical Museum.

In conclusion, I’d like to emphasize that it was a distinct honor to know Mayor Marv.

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As a footnote to the two previous columns about the historic Green Cemetery south of Albert Lea, I’d like to make the following correction. The owner of this property near the County Road 13 and Interstate 35 interchange is Janis Reeder.

Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.