Letter – Goslinga will be missed

Talk about it

To the editor:

When Ruth and I retired to Alexandria in 2001, an old (well, long-time) family friend came up to us and said, “Thank goodness you returned home, you just doubled the number of Democrats in Douglas County!” OK, that was just a bit of hyperbole.

But it didn’t take long to discover we had at least one other political soul mate in the area. George Goslinga of Carlos was a regular liberal contributor to the opinion pages of the Echo. And before I ever met George, he called to thank me for a particular letter I had written to the paper.

George died Wednesday. He was 86 years old. We were shocked to hear this because, although he had been in ill health, he was at the monthly meeting of the DFL just last week. George and Mavis were always regulars at those meetings – the meetings won’t be the same without the both of them there.

George was unfailingly chipper – if chipper can be used to describe an 86-year-old man – and in good humor. And he unfailingly submitted a letter to the Echo every 30 days, at least it seemed like he did. I believe he hand delivered all those letters, for he mentioned that he had just done such at the last DFL meeting. We look forward to the publication of George’s final letter. He will be greatly missed.

Tom Obert

Alexandria, MN

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