The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1919-04-10
VIM. RAAR, SR., SUMMONED

William Rahr Sr. died at his resi-
dence between three and four o'clock
Tuesday morning. He spent a busy
day Monday and retired in his usual
health and spirits. He awoke COM
planning of pain in his chest and
passed away few minutes later.
Mr.. Rahr was born in this city Sept
II, 1854, and resided here his entire
life. He was married in 1879 to Olga
Victoria Martha Nelson. He is sur
vived by his widow and five children,
William, Jr., Max, Niels, Reinhardt,
and Mrs. Martha Spindler. All reside
here. He leaves also eight grand
children, two brothers, Max and Rein
hardt of this city and two sisters,
Mrs. Edw Borcherdt of Davenport, Ia.
and Mrs. o. Bilharz of Missouri. Mr..
Rahr from the death of his father was
associated with his two brothers in the
business left by their father until 1909
when he branched out alone in the
mailing business and made splendid
success of it. He had for years seen
the approaching end of his business
and had been long laying plans for
new enterprises.
He was never a politician but al
ways took keen interest in public af-
fairs and served for two terms as
mayor of the city. During his incum-
bency he woke the city up to the needs
of many municipal improvements and
materialized the ideas. But activity
in politics was but ripple in his life.
He was Rooseveltian in his dynamic
force. He swept aside opposition and
drove with resistless energy to his eV-
cry goal His tenacity of purpose, his
iron will and tireless energy made a
failure impossible He feared nothing.
He took what seemed big chances to
others but from which he knew he
could wiring success, and he did. This
may seem to be overpraise for a small
town business man, but William Rahr
could have achieved big success in a
big field as he did here. He was fitted
by every necessary quality to be a
leader. Although every inch fighter
he was quickly moved by generous i'm
pulse and only infrequently did the
public get a glimpse of his constant
private contributions to the allieva-
tion of distress. ..sss.
When death takes such men as Will
liam Rahr it strikes at the heart of a
business community.
But for such as he, while business
would still go on, it would go on this
year just as it did last year; in the
twentieth century as in the nineteenth.
William Rahr did not undervalue what
his predecessors had done in the paths
he chose to follow, but he did not
make the common mistake of assum-
ing that what they had done was all
that was necessary for him to do in
order to achieve their success. He did
not content himself with an ambition
merely to achieve their success ac-
cording to the recognized methods in
which they had achieved it. He did
not believe that nothing was to be bet
tered in the present because it had
been good in the past He was a man
who used his own brains for the work
that brains must do, comprehending
as too few do, that stagnation and not
progress must result from reliance
solely on work that has been finished
in another day; that the work that
makes today as good as yesterday and
tomorrow as good as today is the
work that is never done, and the work
that we must do ourselves.
He wrought his own way, a way
that placed him well to the front
among modern business men. Mani
towoc city and county, to whose well
fare he was always keenly alive, have
suffered deplorable loss in his death.
The funeral will be held this after
noon from the home on Marshall
street.
STATE FIKS GINNING