Five decades 'long enough' for Filzen

BY SARA SYVERSON

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Friday afternoon was the day Leander Filzen, of New Ulm, decided to hang up his workingman's hat and retire from 50 years of employment with American Artstone Company, located in New Ulm.

"It's long enough...50 years is long enough I think," said Filzen

Filzen graduated from Holy Trinity High School in New Ulm in 1949, and the following summer he began his career with Artstone Company.

"I liked the challenge. There was always something interesting that came up," said Filzen, "I learned something different all the time. There was always a different challenge."

Filzen has seen a few changes in the American Artstone Company from when he started there.

"The biggest change for Artstone was coming out to the (new) bigger building...we could do bigger jobs," said Filzen.

Another major change was the introduction of post-tensioning panels at the company. String cables are placed through the piece that is being worked on for strength and then the next day the product goes through the post-tensioning process.

Filzen said when he started with Artstone Company they did silos, drain tiles, and concrete blocks, but for the last 25 years they have been strictly a precast business.

"I've seen a lot of people come and go -- some are no longer around here anymore -- they have died," said Filzen, "I'll miss the fellows here. I always came in at 5 a.m. in the morning and I was done by 1:15 p.m...I could have the rest of the afternoon do what I wanted."

Another thing Filzen said he will miss is the new designs that the company will be doing.

Filzen said he worked as a laborer for most of his time spent at Artstone Company and he worked the last 17 years as the supervisor for the finishing/shipping department.

Filzen plans to lay low for a while following his official retirement.

"I'm not going to do anything for a while," said Filzen, "I'll stay active...maybe do parttime work eventually. You can't work hard all your life and then quit."

Filzen's wife Kathleen also retired early October of this year. Together they have five children: Randy, Patty, Mike, Debra, and Brian, all who live in the New Ulm area except Patty who lives near Rochester.