A gentleman by the name of Fred Funk,90, passed last Sunday…
While many of our Minnesota members,and some the younger members in this area,may not recognize the name he has been a defender of the ‘ssippi for many years….
I had the pleasure of talking to Fred more than once back in the 80’s and he was a very knowledgeable,sincere guy who always had a smile and a handshake….
Here is a quote from his obituary…
” Fred volunteered for service in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps, attaining the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. As the co-pilot of a B-24 bomber, he completed 16 high-altitude combat missions with the 15th Air Force in Italy before his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Linz, Austria in 1945. That mission was chronicled as the harrowing final combat flight flown by Sen. George McGovern in Stephen Ambrose “Wild Blue“, a book to which Funk and his aircrew contributed. Funk parachuted from the crippled bomber, was captured by German troops, and was interned as a POW for the remainder of the War.
After graduating from Notre Dame in 1946 Fred was employed along with his brothers in managing the La Crosse Rubber Mills (later known as La Crosse Footwear), a firm his father had founded. Fred always brought his unique warmth and congeniality to everyone at the workplace.
Following his retirement and the sale of the La Crosse Rubber Mills in the early 1980s, Fred increasingly devoted himself to conservation activities involving the Mississippi River. Fred loved the River and it showed in his recreational pastimes and his tireless conservation advocacy later in his life.
Mim and his family and friends can recount the many hours they spent with him on the Mississippi River, camping, water skiing, fishing, waterfowl hunting, cross-country skiing, putting up wood duck houses and just exploring the myriad backwaters he loved. Fred was absolutely passionate that families in the future be able to continue to enjoy the River as he had.
In the 1960s, he saw the River changing and began to speak up publicly, advocating so that individuals and families could to continue spending time on the River in the ways he loved. As a businessman, he sometimes felt conflicted between the needs of industry and commerce, and what was best for the River environment. He firmly believed that with input from all sides in a conflict, solutions could be found, and was not afraid to wade into the thickest of heated discourse to find solutions. He spoke up, sometimes too loudly for some, to advocate for public input in decision-making about the River because he believed that the wisdom of generations of river rats was too-often ignored in resource agency planning. He sought balanced input, and felt that too often commercial interests could get their way through political influence alone.
He was often singled out for recognition for his outspoken conservation advocacy, but he was always quick to accept awards not as an individual, but as a representative for the many others who worked tirelessly with him on conservation projects. In presenting him with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Award in 1990, former Congressman Steve Gunderson said of Fred that “he is a conservationist and sportsman in the truest sense of Teddy Roosevelt“. Among other recognition, in 1999 Funk received the National Audubon Society “River Steward Award“, recognizing his 30 years of service on organizations that promote the welfare of the River. Public service groups he was active in included the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission, with several years as chair, the La Crosse County Conservation Alliance, Brice Prairie Conservation Association, chair of the Greater La Crosse Chamber of Commerce Environmental Committee, chair of the Lake Onalaska Protection and Rehabilitation District, and elected member of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress migratory waterfowl committee.
He was particularly proud of his role in the cleanup of pollution from Twin Cities sewage overflows, Wisconsin’s double-hulled barge legislation, the Lake Onalaska dredging project, and the Upper Mississippi River Environmental Management Program among a long, long list of conservation issues.
He contributed greatly to the quality of the Mississippi River and was well known for being able to bring together many different sides to achieve a goal.
Fred moved from La Crosse to Brice Prairie after his retirement. He loved living there, on the edge of Lake Onalaska, with his dear wife Mim, near to the river and backwaters he loved. He delighted in being out on the water, taking special pontoon boat “box lunches” out in the sloughs with Mim, cross country skiing, feeding birds, watching the fall migration of ducks in the lake and so much more.
Near the end of his life he loved watching the development of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility and prairie restoration on a large plot of Brice Prairie agricultural land that had been threatened by industrial development. “
RIP Fred……
