He was born June 9, 1944, the fourth and last child of John “Jack” William and Florence Rose (Renczykowski) Pawlitschek on their 13th anniversary. He was born in the Heron Lake Hospital, the only child born in the hospital for his parents. He had older sisters, Lorriane (Ray) Anderson and Gerry (Paul) Maras and brother Larry “Lawrence” (Raynette) Pawlitschek. At age 5, the family moved from Heron Lake to the Jeffers area. Gary attended country school through the fifth grade, until the school closed in 1955, at District 55 in Dale Township, located by the Merlie Kingery farmstead. He was the only student in his class all five years. He then attended school in Jeffers, graduating with the Jeffers High School class of 1962. He was the senior class president and FFA president. He was active in his family farm operation. At the age of 15, he rented a 240-acre farm, with his brother Larry and farmed with Larry and his dad while going to high school. He was very active in sports. At age 10 he was playing fast pitch softball for the Dale Diggers 4-H. They lost the first game they played and then went on to win the county 4-H championship that year and for the next four years going undefeated, only losing that first game they played. One summer at age 15, he played on four softball teams, 4-H (Dale Diggers), FFA (Jeffers), church league (Catholic) and town team (Delft), and all four teams won their league championship. He was involved in and excelled in sports at Jeffers High School, lettering in four sports: football, basketball, baseball, and track. He played on some outstanding basketball teams. He was known as “Little Polly” and his brother, Larry as “Big Polly.” He led his team, and the conference, his senior year, scoring with a 22.1 average and rebounding at 14.8 per game. He was named MVP of his team and the Red Rock conference. He was named to southern Minnesota first team All-State team, by New Ulm Daily Journal. He missed the 1000-point club by a few points. The MN State High School League has adopted a ridiculous 16-game schedule rule that applied for all three years of his varsity career. (Now they play a minimum of 24 games a year.) If that has been in effect, then he would have scored over 1300 points based on the average he had in varsity games. He was especially proud of his field goal percentage of over 60 percent. He was named weekly All-State in the Minneapolis Tribune team three times, once for having 25 rebounds in one game, another time for scoring 32 points, and on 12 of 15 field goals and 8 of 8 free throws. His brother Larry had set the family bar high, and with encouragement from his brother, he tried to break Larry’s personal records. He played football only his junior and senior year. His parents were hesitant to let him play football because of his polio at an early age and fall work on the farm. That all changed when the high school coach’s Eldon Dahl, Jon Falgren and Darrell Furhman came recruiting, while Gary was plowing oats stubble. “Sure, I will play, but my folks have the final say.” The coaches changed practice to evenings to accommodate him during the two weeks before school started. After the first game, Dad said,” You can tell the coaches they can go back to their regular schedule,” which they did and no one on the team ever knew. Gary played tight end, linebacker and defensive end having over 100 yards receiving, in one game on two catches. Gary went on to Mankato State College. He was a member of the college basketball team for three years. He graduated in 1967, with a major in business administration, economics, and a minor in psychology. He continued to be active in fastpitch softball, playing until the age of 41 and winning a state championship as player manager for Fairmont in 1984. He was also a high school sports official in basketball, football, and volleyball for 20 years. Gary was a sports fan of the Twins, Gophers, and Vikings, with season tickets to the Vikings, when they played in the Metrodome. He also was a Gopher basketball season ticket holder, since 1974. He was in the military service during Vietnam era with the 492nd Engineering Army Reserve unit in Mankato from 1968-1974. He attained the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6). Before and while going to college, he farmed and had summer jobs working for Wright Tree Service, Hodgmen Construction, Elk River Concrete and Hallet Construction. After graduating from college, he began his 41-year agriculture banking career with Farm Credit in Windom, in 1969. In 1972, he moved into the home office of Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of St. Paul. Then in 1976, he became president of the Farm Credit office in Fairmont. At the time, he was the youngest president in the seventh Farm Credit district, at age 32. He continued to work with Farm Credit systems working with the Worthington and Emmetsburg offices. He moved on to the banking system in 1969, working 21 more years in ag banking. He worked at Ledyard, Trimont, and Ormsby. He became president of Worthington-Brewster banks in 2000. His last stop was at the Truman Bank retiring in 2010. During his lifetime he remained active in farming, owning, and managing his own farmland. In January 1989, he married Carolyn Chafee Dahms. They later divorced. From this marriage they had a daughter, Katelyn (Kelsi) Rose Pawlitschek, born on July 13th, 1991. Kelsi was born with cerebral palsy, the result of a botched ovarian cancer surgery, while Carolyn was 5 months pregnant. Gary has been Kelsi’s biggest supporter and care giver, while being wheelchair bound during her lifetime. She has lived with Dad since graduating from high school. Gary was dedicated to his daughter and made sure she was taken care of. Gary was an outdoor person. He was an avid pheasant, duck, and deer hunter. No one will forget his golden lab, Jessie. He liked fishing, especially with friends. He enjoyed feeding the birds and caring for Kelsi’s cats and her dog, “Baby,” along with her pet ducks. The farm boy in him caused him to raise a large garden of which he mostly gave away. Gary will be remembered for his sense of fair play, sharing, and hard work. I don’t know of an employee who worked with him that didn’t call him a friend. He is survived by his daughter, Katelyn Kelsi Rose and stepson, Nathan Dahms; nephew, John (Tammy) Anderson and children, Quentin, Cody and Mason; nephew, Mike (Janet) Anderson and children, Matthew and Micara; nephew, Jim (Vicky) Anderson and children, Trenton and Robby; nephew, Kent (Jackie) Anderson and children, Hunter and Hayden; niece, Karen (Dean) Kappes and children, Kelsey, Preston, Halley, Jadey and Carely; sister, Gerry Maras and family: nephew, Paul Maras Jr., and daughter, Jessica; nephew, Jeff Maras and children, Michelle, Nicole, Rachel and Jeff Jr; nephew, Matt (Daphney) Maras and children, Andrew, Mariah and Cierra; niece, Anna (Will) Johnston; nephew, Wayne (Cheri) Maras and children, Tristyn and Tyler; niece, Beth (Gary) Kalash; niece, Belle (Duane) Harder and children, Darby, Derrick, and Drake; sister-in-law, Raynette Pawlitschek and family: nephew, Garret (Susan) Pawlitschek; nephew, Terry (Maya) Pawlitschek and Cole; and many great-great nieces and nephews. Gary was preceded in death by his parents, Jack and Florence Pawlitschek; brother, Larry “Lawrence” Pawlitschek; sister, Lorraine Anderson; and two brothers-in-law, Ray Anderson and Paul Maras. Blessed be the memory of Gary Lee Pawlitschek. www.lacannefuneral home.com

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