By Brenna Wiegand
It’s no surprise to learn that Jerry Lauzon has been awarded Mount Angel’s Lifetime Achievement award. He and the other awardees will be honored at the Mount Angel Chamber of Commerce First Citizen Banquet March 19 at the Mount Angel Community Festhalle.
Lauzon has impacted nearly all aspects of Mount Angel life since taking up residence upon his Army retirement in 1991. He determined to “be at home” in Mount Angel by plunging in.
The first time he attended St. Mary Catholic Church, they were short a reader, so Lauzon got up and did the readings. He has immersed himself in the church and its well-being over the decades and calls himself “St. Mary’s oldest altar boy.” When the 1993 earthquake hit he was among the first to walk into St. Mary’s and witness the destruction.
Lauzon knew the church must be saved. He rolled up his sleeves to help and within eight weeks his team raised $1.2 million toward the church’s restoration. Just recently, he was instrumental in obtaining a $50,000 grant for improvements to St. Mary’s Cemetery.
“I grew up as an active member of my church,” Lauzon said. “Even during my 35 years in the Army church was important to me. My role as an officer was to take care of my soldiers regardless of their denomination. In my last command I had seven chaplains reporting to me and over the course of a given month I’d visit each one to see how they were doing.
“Religion is my moral compass; how I think and how I act is based upon my church and in my family training.”
Lauzon was born and raised in New England and joined the U.S. Army in 1955. Most of his time was in nuclear missile forces in Germany where he met Connie Beard, an Oregon girl. They’ve been married 52 years.
“My greatest decision was marrying my wife and fathering my children,” Lauzon said. “Those were the great joys of my life.”
Connie agreed to follow her career soldier “whither thou goest” with the stipulation that when he retired they move to “God’s Country.”
“Here’s a good Germanic community if ever there was one,” he told Connie upon their first visit to Mount Angel decades ago. “When we get out of the Army, Mount Angel is the type of place we would be very happy to live in.”
U.S. Army Colonel Jerry Lauzon served as Inspector General of Oregon the two years prior to his 1991 retirement. When he left for training, Connie headed to Mount Angel to find a home.
“My requirements included being in walking distance of a church and a good tavern,” Jerry said.
Connie called to say she’d found a place with a view of the church and within walking distance of a couple friendly taverns. “Buy it,” he told her.
As retirement loomed, it was now up to Lauzon to find his next post. With a master’s degree in public administration, he thought he’d run for city council.
“Being a PR guy, I made a flier and knocked on every door in Mount Angel,” he said. “I was elected and served eight marvelous years as a city councilor.”
Meanwhile he found his true calling as an Oktoberfest board member and soon became its president. He felt in this capacity he could do great good for the community. The first item of business was enhancing the festival by helping to make it a true family oriented event. An unregulated flow of alcoholic beverages needed to be controlled. The notorious stickers had to be eliminated.
“This is not how you run a festival,” he told the board. “You’ve got music, food, wonderful wines and beers, so it’s up to us – not the public – to control this wonderful event. We can make it a truly fantastic adventure.”
Today the Mount Angel Oktoberfest is recognized as one of the greatest, most authentic Germanic festivals in America.
Lauzon retired in 2012 after 20 years on the Oktoberfest board and passed the torch to John Gooley, close friend and protégé.
“I took him on as I would take on a young officer in whom I saw outstanding potential,” Lauzon said. “He’s carried on after me and completed the Festhalle – hard, hard work.”
As Lauzon plots his next 10 years he is satisfied that he can look back on his first 80 years with no regrets.
“Connie and I have lived all over the world,” he said.
“We are happy to say that there is no place on earth that we would rather be than right here in Mount Angel.”
