Lothar 'Bud' Fieg, Family Patriarch, Dies

Lothar "Bud" Fieg, eldest surviving sibling from the original Fieg family homestead in Oneonta, N.Y. and beloved family patriarch, died in Ste. Genevieve, MO on January 28, 2009 from complications of a lengthy illness. He was 89.

He was born August 22, 1919 in Oneonta to Lothar E. Fieg and Florence Shields Fieg, graduating from Oneonta High School in 1937. He received a degree in mine engineering from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, before embarking on a career that saw him rise to the position of superintendent at the Mississippi Lime Co. in Ste. Genevieve, where he supervised more than three hundred employees at the time of his retirement.

A number of his former mining colleagues recalled him as competent, fair and kind.

"Sometimes we thought he ought to crack the whip a little more, that he was too nice a guy," recalled retired mine foreman Roseman Tucker, who answered directly to the man known in the mine simply as "Red. "Of course, that wasn't a fault. It was a credit to him."

"Bud was a very brilliant person," said Col. Clifford R. "Roger" Silliman, (USAF Ret.), 88, of Lompoc, CA. "Learning came very easy to him."

Silliman recalled that he and his lifelong friend were partners in the operation of a modest, commercial bicycle shop when the two were teenagers in Oneonta. Though Bud had no formal training, he quickly grasped the dynamics of mechanics, teaching himself to dissemble and reassemble parts in the rebuilding of scrapped bicycles for resale.

"We got so we could respoke an entire wheel," said Silliman, who ran the shop out of the basement of his father's house.

Bud enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the outset of World War II, serving as a fighter pilot with the Eighth Air Force in England. Flying P-40 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs, he escorted U.S. bombers en route to Germany on perilous daylight bombing runs, and at one point was forced to parachute to safety after an engine he was testing burst into flames over England.

He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of captain.

He married Catherine Shafer of Oneonta and they raised five children in Ste. Genevieve. Catherine died in 1976.

In 1977 he married Rachel Dickson Taylor, who also preceded him in death. In retirement, they traveled the globe.

Bud served on the Ste. Genevieve R-II School Board, where he was a leading advocate of a controversial school construction bond issue in the 1970s. Lorraine Spang, a school teacher during that period, recalled him as unwavering in his support of school improvements, urging voters not to re-elect him if they could not also support new school financing.

"Lothar Fieg was an unpurchasable man," Spang said. "By that I mean he couldn't be bought. He was a man of very high integrity, and he lived his Christian values every day of his life.... He literally walked the way he talked."

Nephew Greg Fieg of San Antonio, TX called his uncle "a man of great charity and generosity."

He remembered that when his father, Bud's brother, Frank Fieg, fell on hard times as he tried to run the family business during the recession of the early 1960s, Bud was there to help without being asked.

"On more than one occassion, the Christmas card from Ste. Genevieve would arrive with a $50 bill in it," Fieg said. "And this was when $50 was truly a lot of money, and it came from a man who had more than his share of his own problems trying to support a wife and five children."

He volunteered tirelessly for various local Presbyterian endeavors, and was granted a life membership at the church, which he and Catherine joined in 1949. He served on the board.

Survivors include sisters Maxine (Robert) Whiteside of Sioux City, IA and Dorothy Roman of Bridgewater, NJ; four sons, Richard (Cindy) and Steven (Eleanor) of Ste. Genevieve, Russell (Heny) of Henderson, NV and Douglas (Cindy) of Soma, CA, a daughter, Susan (Ed) Williams, of Chicago and a sister-in-law Jean Davie Fieg.

He also leaves grandchildren Laura and Brian Fieg of Atlanta, GA, Tamra (Thomas) Bradford of Festus, MO, Brenna Furgason of Ste. Genevieve and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and by his brothers Victor Philip and Franklin and two sisters Emilie McGonigal and Florence Bookhout.

A wake will be held 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 2, at the Wood Family Funeral Home, 223 Market St, Ste Genevieve (Ph: 573-883-3555). The funeral services will follow at the funeral home.

After the procession to the cemetery there will be a pot luck type meal served by the Presbyterian Women's Club at the Presbyterian Church fellowship hall area.

Donations may be made in his memory to the Presbyterian Church Memorial Fund, 160 S. Main St., Ste Genevieve, MO 63670. (ph: 573-883-3273). Flowers have not been requested by the family, but will be gratefully accepted from those who desire to send them. They can be ordered from Buy the Bunch/Rehm's Florist, 518 S 4th St., Ste Genevieve, MO (ph: 573-883-2109.

Steve and Eleanor Fieg Move to New House

Steve and Eleanor Fieg have moved into their newly completed home in Pevely, Mo., near Ste. Genevieve.

The home is truly extraordinary, perched as it is on the rim of a secluded cul-de-sac with a huge deck overlooking a 600-foot ravine and roaring creek. Steve and Eleanor designed the floorplan themselves.

It is 2500 square feet with three bedrooms, a huge dining room and kitchen, two baths and a multi-car garage. Steve and Eleanor have decorated with a number of family heirlooms and momentos.

Steve, son of Lothar "Bud" Fieg, like big his brother, Richard Fieg, works for Mississippi Lime, having followed in the footsteps of his late father, who retired there as mine superintendant.

The Fiegs have put out the welcome mat for those who wish to come and see.

U.R.A. Texan If....

U R A Texan if: 1. You can properly pronounce Tivoli, Palestine, Weslaco, Wichita Falls, San Antonio , Burnet , Boerne , Nacogdoches , Mexia, Waco, Elgin, Amarillo, and Waxahachie. 2. A siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel cloud. 3. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day. 4. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade. 5. You see people wear bib overalls at funerals. 6. You measure distance in minutes. 7. You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit. 8. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan his wedding date. 9. You have known someone who has had a belt buckle bigger than your fist. 10. You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store. 11. Your "place at the lake" has wheels under it. 12. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol; a Ford F350 4x4 is. 13. You know everything goes better with Ranch dressin'. 14. You actually understand this and you are "fixin' to" send it to your friends. 20. Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation: " You wanna coke?" "Yeah." "What kind?" "Dr. Pepper ."

Thanks to Steven Fieg for this oh so true list!

Brother of Jean Davie Fieg Dies

On January 19, 2009 Raymon G. Davie, jr. passed away at his Cooperstown home. Raymon was the brother of Jean Davie Fieg, wife of V. Philip Fieg, founder of the Fieg Family News.

Uncle Raymon, who had been battling prostate cancer, collapsed at home on January 14 and was transported to Basset Memorial Hospital in Cooperstown. Pneumonia was diagnosed, as was the spread of the cancer to his lungs.

His family took him home on Sunday, and Monday morning he was discovered to have died during the night. He was 77 years old.