Posted: 8/15/06
Doing good for Caledonia
That sums up Senior of the Year Bud Marnach
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
It would sound like a cliche from just about anybody else, but with Bud, you tend to believe it.
Thatís what I was thinking when I asked Bud how he felt about being named Houston Countyís Outstanding Senior Citizen.
Itís one of those basic questions that reporters have to ask, and I did my duty while sitting at the Bud and Mary Ellen Marnach home last Thursday afternoon.
Bud replied that the privilege and the pleasure to do good far surpasses anything connected to the award. ìYou work because you like to do that,î he said.
Anyone who knows Vernon Marnach knows that that is true. Heís a helper, a giver, and heís a heck of a salesman too.
There are way too many examples of all those traits to list here. But if you spend much time in Caledonia, youíll encounter them.
Heíll give a lift to a senior citizen in his golf cart at the football game. Heíll sing to residents at Caledonia Care and Rehab. Heíll write up detailed articles about the 8th grade football game ñ after announcing the game from the press box ñ and bring it into The Argus on deadline, and ask ever so nicely if we canít get it in, and gee he appreciates it, and the kids do too, and the next thing you know, the article is in the paper and we are thanking Bud for bringing it in!
Lately heís been practicing reading the poem, ìThe Ragged Old Flag,î for the veterans program at the Houston County Fair on Wednesday night.
ìDo you ever have any free time?î I asked him last week, only half jokingly.
ìWhen he sleeps,î Mary Ellen replied for him.
Bud, who will be 82 on September 13, admits he has a lot of energy, although lately it is being tested rather severely. He has battled bladder cancer for two years. Twice itís gone into remission. Now itís back again, so he is taking treatments for a third time. ìI expect it to be successful again,î he said. ìBut itís hampering my activities terrible.î
But they went to ball games this summer, Mary Ellen pointed out.
ìNot as many as usual,î Bud replied, his tone of voice expressing disappointment in himself.
Youth sports and much more
What are his favorite activities? Thatís another dumb reporter question that I tend to ask.
ìAll youth sports in Caledonia,î he replied. ìThe pros and the other people donít interest me at all.î
But thereís more than that, Bud said after a pause of several seconds. The high school football team got an academic leadership award last year, he said. And he always tells the kids, starting in 7th grade, if they work hard and are smart, theyíll be successful.
Donít forget about your singing and entertaining in Florida, Mary Ellen said. Thatís a part of the Marnachsí life that Caledonia residents donít get to see. The Marnachs head to Sun City Center, 25 miles south of Tampa, every November, and stay till about May 1. Bud has a plaque in his office honoring him for 15 years of entertainment there. He can croon a Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra number with the best of them. A Jewish synagogue even paid him $100 for an hour of singing one New Yearís Eve, Bud said with a chuckle.
Bud has been a hard worker all of his life. He can tell you about those jobs too. He sold copies of Chicago daily newspapers for a nickel in bustling downtown Caledonia when he was 10 years old. He was running the Marnach bowling alley at age 18. In fact, the $300 he earned in a bowling tournament was enough for him and Mary Ellen Albert to get married on September 4, 1944. They both graduated from Loretto High School in 1942.
He tended bar on Saturday nights for $5 per night, and clerked livestock auctions at the sales barn for $3 per night. ìCash,î Bud said with a grin.
Bud could sell refrigerators to Eskimos, or at least to Minnesotans, which isnít far off. He did just that for a spell as a young man, working on straight commission. But his career came into focus when he started selling auto parts in 1952. He sold for two different companies from 1950-1958, and he was good at it. Bud didnít say that, but it doesnít take a genius to figure that out.
He was so good in fact that in 1957, he and a man named Joe Wewerka started to plan their own auto parts company. They opened their first United Auto Parts store in February of 1958 in La Crosse.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com