“If there was ever an Education Hall of Fame….he should be in it!”, said retired Mishicot School administrator John Risch. Otto H. Schultz died last Thursday morning at the age of 101. Reached at his winter home in California today, Risch told Seehafer News that Schultz was an extraordinary guy..with a forceful personality. “Lombardi was a big deal in Green Bay, but this guy, when he said ‘come in and sit down’ we didn’t even look for a chair. He had a presence about him. He was forceful and strong but fair. He was an easy guy to work for.”
Risch explains that Otto Schultz “built” the Mishicot School District. “He pulled all those one-room schools together. Brought them all in and set the boundary lines. Of course, he had to negotiate with the other districts on who was going to get what. He did that all while he was running the school and he had nobody in the office but himself, other than the secretary.”
Schultz, who was raised in Milwaukee, started as a principal and teacher in Mishicot in 1939, before leaving to serve in the United States Army in 1941 during World War II. He would return to the village in the late 1940s, where he would become the Administrator of Mishicot Public Schools until retiring in 1983.
Based on a suggestion by John Risch, the elementary school was rededicated in honor of Mr. Schultz in 1979.
A funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 11:00 at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Mishicot. Visitation will be held Tuesday from 4-until-8pm at the Lambert-Eckert Funeral Home, and again Wednesday between 9:00 and 10:45 am, at the church.
