General Notes

William Paul was baptized January 17, 1915 at Sacred Heart Church. The
priest was Gaudence Worm, OFM. His sponsors were Francis Hoffer and Mary
Angrick.
Obituary:
Former LaPorte Mayor William Angrick dies at 86
By BETH BOARDMAN - Opinion page editor <mailto:bboardman@@heraldargus.com>
Former LaPorte Mayor William Angrick, who led the city during one of the
most difficult times in its history, died this morning. He was 86.
Funeral arrangements are pending at Essling Funeral Home.
Angrick was LaPorte City Council president in 1982 when then-LaPorte
Mayor A.J. Rumely was shot and wounded and his wife Frances was shot and
killed in their home.
After the Memorial Day shooting, Rumely lay wounded in a South Bend
hospital for six months until his death on Thanksgiving Day 1982.
During those months, as council president, Angrick was suddenly thrust
into the role of the city's leader, but no law existed that would permit
the city to appoint him as deputy mayor. Although he presided at council
meetings, city business had to be conducted in a roundabout way with
Rumely giving "implied vetoes" on ordinances passed by the council before
they could be put into law.
Three weeks after Rumely's death, Angrick was appointed mayor by a
Republican caucus to serve the remaining year in Rumely's term.
Despite the difficult time before and after Rumely's death, "the
transition was very smooth," Robert Zimmermann said this morning. Angrick
appointed Zimmermann as city engineer in February 1983. "He was such a
kind and gentle fellow that he didn't get upset by it; he went right in
and took over."
Although Angrick served just over a year as mayor before Democrat Dennis
Smith defeated him in November 1983 to win a third term as LaPorte mayor,
Angrick's brief term was nonetheless memorable.
LaPorte's lakes were at unprecedented high levels when he took office,
and Angrick and other city officials managed to devise a makeshift
pumping system to lower them, using auxiliary city water department pipes
to carry the water from Lilly Lake to the Little Kankakee River. "It was
a system that worked pretty well," Zimmermann recalled today.
"He was a hero to the people around the lakes and they had a little
parade on the lakes for him," John Anderton, who served as city attorney
for Angrick, recalled this morning. "Unfortunately they couldn't vote for
him (in the next election) because they lived outside the city."
Also during his term, Angrick and Zimmermann, as LaPorte Board of Public
Works and Safety members, chose and established LaPorte's first cable TV
company, Lakeshore Communications, which was then locally owned. The
decision was a controversial one, though, with Angrick firing Hylmar Keil
as city engineer and board of works member, and Arthur Roule Jr.
resigning as city attorney and board of works member, in contention over
the Lakeshore choice. Angrick then appointed Zimmermann and Anderton.
Over the years Angrick also headed many LaPorte charitable organizations
and clubs, including serving as executive director of the LaPorte United
Way. "He devoted his whole life pretty much to promoting LaPorte,"
Anderton said.
In an interview with the Herald-Argus at the conclusion of his time as
mayor in December 1983, Angrick said, "LaPorte's got everything going for
it. When I say that, I'm not a starry-eyed kid. ... LaPorte has a good
cross-section of intelligent people, of culture-related people, of people
who care about their community and have done many things to make it a
great place."
Among Angrick's survivors are his wife, Barbara, one daughter and one son.
Services: St. Peter Church, LaPorte, Indiana
Essling Funeral Home