Hub Club

honors

Contag

Service to

Agriculture award presented Jan. 17

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A New Ulm veterinarian, who was born in Ecuador to German parents, will receive the 2004 New Ulm Farm City Hub Club Service to Agriculture award.

This year, the winner of the award was named ahead of the Jan. 17 banquet. Hub Club member Linda Neigebauer said she is "excited" about honoring Contag for all he does.

Contag is a past president of the New Ulm Lion. He has been particularly active in the Lions' rodeo and fly-in breakfast.

He has been active in the Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star, the United Methodist Church, Hub Club and Boy Scouts.

His language and veterinarian medicine talents and involvement in the Lions and Methodist Church made him an excellent candidate for missions work in Central America. He made two mission trips to Nicaragua, taking eyeglasses donated by the New Ulm and Lamberton Lions clubs.

Nicaraguans tried on eye glasses until they found a pair that improved their sight. On his last trip, he took money donated by the Lions that was used to buy rope chains for the swings in the Lions Club Park in Jalapa, Nicaragua.

Because the original swing chains in Jalapa were taken to be used as war weapons, the children were thrilled with their new swings.

Contag was born in Quito, Ecuador, South America, to German parents. He spoke German at home and learned Spanish when he went to grade school.

Attending college at Central University in Quito, he studied veterinary medicine. After graduation, he applied for and received a scholarship to study veterinary hygiene at Iowa State University. He earned a master's degree in 1956.

In September, 1956 he married Ann Schwermann of New Ulm, and they moved to Quito where Carlos had a position at the University. They moved to Cuenca, Ecuador, where he set up a bacteriology lab for the Point Four Program, a cooperative between the U.S. and Ecuador.

In 1957, he returned to Iowa State to teach at the veterinary school and worked on his doctorate in bacteriology.

In 1959, he was asked by his father-in-law to move to New Ulm to join his veterinary practice.

The Contags have five children and 13 grandchildren.

He has been active in state veterinary associations and the American Veterinary Medical Association. He was chairman and member of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and served as Veterinary Medical inspector for the USDA.

For more than 20 years, Carlos taught Community Education classes in German and Spanish.