Eugene Schmitz 

It is one of the strange, unfair aspects of life that Gene now finds himself busier in retirement than he ever seemed to be while he was “working.”  Serving as a member of the City Council of Green Bay as well as a member of the Brown County Board, he says it is not unusual to have eight or ten meetings in a week, “And they’re long meetings, and hard.”  In order to prove his point he produced a large pile of papers he needed to be familiar with in order to take part in this week’s meetings.  Gene always followed politics, and after retirement a few years back he decided that he wouldn’t mind getting involved in the political scene.  He campaigned hard and in 1992 was rewarded with a seat on the City Council.   ‘Reward” may not be the right word, if one views retirement as a time to rest and relax.  Gene finds himself on about a dozen committees and is often gone for most of the day for what has turned out to be a very demanding job. When it is not official business, he ’s called upon for things such as judging contests and any of the other events that public figures are asked to be a part of.  He doesn’t mind, since it is a great opportunity to be in touch with his constituents.  He appreciates being in a position where he can help people, especially older people who often seem to be forgotten.

 

Gene got involved with the Knights about the same time as he took a greater interest in politics.  He and Aaron Naze became fishing buddies (Gene says, “You need a fishing buddy when you retire”) and it was Aaron who talked him into becoming a part of Council 10243.  Gene is now a Third Degree Knight and despite a busy schedule he finds time to get to some meetings of the Council.  He has been involved in several activities such as Tootsie Roll drives and recalls how well he and Richard Rebman worked the crowd at Wal-Mart last time around.  He’s also been a part of the Cub Food stands, but his biggest role seems to be one he inherited from Al Collins--Official Booyah Maker of Council 10243.  He came experienced, having worked the booyah for St. Bernard Parish in the past.  Though he doesn’t need to work the ‘phones looking for volunteers, the buying and the preparation time do tend to cut into a busy schedule.  Gene finds he is always scrounging around for deals on things and has saved the Council some bucks in that fashion.  He’s also interested in doing something different on occasion; he’s thinking about having Belgian pies available with the booyah as an added attraction.

 

Born and raised in Fond du Lac, Gene worked for A.C. Nielsen as a “computer person,” and he is proud of the fact that he was just about the first computer operator in the State and one of the first programmers in the country.  He came to Green Bay twenty eight years ago on a job related move.  In his position with Nielsen as a Revision Maintenance Manager, he was often on the move and sometimes was gone for weeks at a time.  He and his wife, Mae, are both active at St. Bernard Parish where Gene serves as an usher and his wife as a Eucharistic Minister; (he says. “We sometimes take over the 4:00 Mass.”)  Mae also serves as a Eucharistic minister at Bornemann Nursing Home.  They have been married for just about forty two years now and have six children.

 

April 1997