Loose remembered as asset to county

Former county

auditor died

Saturday

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Brown County commissioners took a moment of silence at the beginning of their regular meeting Tuesday to acknowledge the passing of a former Brown County auditor and administrator.

Although many current-day commissioners and county officials had not yet taken office at the time Otis A. Loose was the auditor-administrator of Brown County, many said they knew him while he was in public office.

Loose died at age 83 at Oak Hills Assisted Living Center on Saturday. He is survived by his wife, several children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"Otie." as he was called, was born in New Ulm in 1920. He graduated from New Ulm High School in 1937 and later attended Macalester College in St. Paul, where he was an all-conference center on the football team. He was elected to the Macalester College Hall of Fame. Following college, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942 and flew missions over Europe as a B-24 bomber pilot during World War II. When he returned, he and Hank Nicklasson went into the sporting goods business. During this time, Loose was the catcher for the New Ulm Brewers amateur baseball team. He was also a member of the New Ulm Baseball Hall of Fame.

Loose was first elected Brown County auditor in 1963. He later took on the job of county administrator in addition to his role as auditor. Former New Ulm City Administrator Dick Salvati remembered working with Loose on the conversion of the old New Ulm Post Office at Center and Broadway into the Brown County Historical Society museum. Salvati also remembered Loose's efforts to mediate disputes between Brown County and the City of New Ulm.

"I think that whenever any issue came up, he dealt with it in a measured, reserved way," Salvati said.

Denis Warta, who served as a county commissioner when Loose led the county government, was a long-time friend of Loose. He came to admire Loose as early as the mid-1930s, when Loose was an all-conference center for the Macalester College football team. Warta also recalled the days when Loose was the catcher for the New Ulm Brewers.

"You could see it from his hands," Warta said. "The knuckles were above-average size."

Warta remembered Loose as an astute accountant.

"He really was an asset to Brown County. He really knew numbers and budgeting. He was a little on the conservative side, but he was also very cogniscent of people's needs and expectations and what they deserved of county government. He was truly a people's servant," Warta said.

Warta recalled a car with loudspeakers on its roof that used to drive around New Ulm during the 1940s and '50s. The car played radio broadcasts of West Minny baseball games. In those days, while Loose was still the catcher, the Brewers used to have a pitcher named Lefty Light.

"I'll never forget the announcers saying 'At the battery for tonight's game is Light and Loose', " Warta said.

Warta also recalled a trip he and Loose took out to Swan Lake with a German exchange student during the 1950s. The boy talked about the town he was from, only to have Loose remember that it was one of those he had bombed during World War II.

Warta's tenure from the county board from 1973-1980, was a "revolutionary time in county government" because many residents were being released from state hospitals and the county needed to deal with that situation. He also remembered Loose played a key role in establishing the Brown County park system, beginning with the purchase of the land that later became Lake Hanska County Park. Warta said the county decided to start a park system after it learned state funds were available to purchase land for public use and realized it was one county that didn't have a park system.

Brown County Administrator Chuck Enter remembered that Loose was "a really hard-working auditor-administrator" of whom Enter has fond memories. Enter became Brown County's planning and zoning administrator towards the end of 1982, while Loose was the county auditor and administrator.

Loose was the last auditor of Brown County. Loose's replacement, Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Marlin Helget, remembered Loose as someone who was overworked, a hard worker and as someone who saved everything.

The best advice Loose gave, said Helget, was "don't throw anything away" and "it's going to take 10 years for you to learn this job."