Goodbye, Mr. Red Oak
The man affectionately dubbed “Mr. Red Oak” by many is being remembered for his passionate and commitment to the community.
George Maher, a lifelong supporter of economic development for the city and Montgomery County, died Friday, Feb. 3. He was 86. His funeral was held Wednesday.
Maher had a major passion for the community of Red Oak. His goal was to make Red Oak the best place to “Live, work, and play.”
He was involved in numerous volunteer organizations throughout his life, always striving to make Red Oak “A Shade Better.” He was fond of saying “Community involvement is the rent you pay for the space you occupy.”
One of the biggest undertakings he saw completed was construction of the Highway 34 bridge over the Missouri River, a project in which he was involved for many years.
Maher retired as the executive director of the Montgomery County Development Corporation last April. Last June, he was honored by Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at a special ceremony at Johnson Controls in Red Oak. He was recognized for his more than 50 years of service developing and promoting Iowa as a premiere location to conduct business, and for exemplary efforts to create jobs for people in the area.
Houghton State Bank president Jim Sifford first met Maher in 1973, when Maher loaned him money to build a house. Sifford took a job at Houghton in 1984, and they worked together for 33 years. Sifford said in all that time, he could not think of a single time when Maher criticized him.
“He was the kind of guy who trusted his employees. I don’t ever remember George second-guessing me, which meant so much to me. He was also a great mentor, and everything I learned about banking I learned from George and the experiences I’ve had,” Sifford said.
“When I took over the presidency in 2000, I’m sure there were times when he wanted to say, ‘Jim, I think you ought to do it this way,’ but in all that time he never once gave me any advice I didn’t ask for. In our business, and sometimes your friends will do something business-wise that isn’t in the banks best interests. George was so forgiving of that. He kept those friendships together, and I admire and was amazed that George could do that. I’ve been in a lot of states, and when I tell people I’m from Red Oak, no matter where I’m at, they ask about George. It’s amazing the number of lives he touched. If I had to describe him in a few words, I’d say he was a great mentor to me, a wonderful colleague, and a wonderful friend.”
After his retirement from Houghton, Sifford said he and Maher still met once or twice a week to converse about Red Oak and economic development. He said he will miss George’s enthusiasm for both, and the leadership George had for the community. On a personal level, Sifford said it was George’s unwavering determination that led him to become Houghton’s president.
“George came to me when he wanted to retire as president, and asked me to take the position. I turned him down. About three weeks later, he asked me again and I turned him down again. I told him I liked being a loan officer, and I didn’t think I wanted to be president. So what does he go and do? He calls my wife and spends the afternoon with her, and that’s how I ended up being president,” said Sifford.
Glenwood State Bank president Larry Winnum worked with Maher on several major projects, including the Highway 34 bridge project, and was co-chair with Maher on the transportation committee of the Southwest Iowa Coalition. They started planning on three projects, including the bridge, and the Highway 2 bypass at Sidney. Plans for the bridge started as far back as 1991, and there was much planning involved with the Iowa Department of Transportation and legislators in Washington, which finally led to a $25 million earmark for the project, and was finally completed in 2014.
“George always told me that I was the one that kept the project going. I told him it was because he kept pushing me. When I met George, he was 60, the age I’m at now. I don’t think he ever stopped doing what he was doing 40 years before that,” Winnum said. “He was a real mentor to me in terms of economic development and getting involved in the community. We were both bankers, and we both enjoyed being involved in the community, but George did it in spades. I don’t think he ever stopped working to help the community, and I don’t think I’ve met a nicer person, or one who was so passionate about helping the community, and not wanting to take credit for it. He just wanted positive things to happen for people.”
Dave Jennings, Montgomery County Memorial Hospital public relations director said Maher was involved in just about every major fund raiser in Red Oak. When it was decided to build a new hospital at a new location along highway 34, George was one of the chair people involved in raising about $900,000 from the community for the new hospital.
“His work continued with the hospital as he was currently serving on the MCMH Foundation Board of Directors and had served in that capacity since the Foundation began in 1984. His work with the Foundation included raising funds to purchase needed equipment for the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital. We also called on George when the hospital needed to recruit new doctors for the community. George was always there to give the prospects tours of the community, and to encourage them that they needed to locate in Red Oak,” Jennings said.
Red Oak Mayor Bill Billings said Maher was always a mentor and a guide to many of the initiatives he had since becoming Red Oak’s Mayor.
“He was always a very consummate supporter of efforts we had to make Red Oak a better place to be. I looked up to George considerably through the years, even before I was elected. His love for the community was unmatched by anyone I had ever met. My father knew George for a number of years as well. They attended school at a similar time here in Red Oak. George will be sorely missed by me, and many others in the community. I will definitely miss being able to run ideas past George and get his feedback,” Billings commented.
Inman Primary principal Gayle Allensworth said Maher was a strong supporter of not only the community, but the Red Oak School District, saying Maher was a key player in the school-to-work initiative, the Inman bond issue, and every school improvement advisory committee meeting Allensworth went to.
“He had a genuine concern and dedication to the whole system. His agenda was always what was best for Red Oak. He truly led by example, and never stopped thinking about what would make education and our community better. He was able to always balance maintaining historical value and rational with forward thinking about economic and educational development. I remember entering the community and George just had a way of drawing people in, building them up, helping them learn and enabling them to be involved in the community and be a citizen who made a difference,” Allensworth said.
Paul Griffen, who worked extensively with Maher over the years, first met him in 1982, when he was a college graduate, and helped Griffen get acclimated in the community and its activities. Maher was one of the community members who helped to bring the Johnson Controls facility into Red Oak, and in more recent years, was always someone Griffen said he could count on for insight and guidance, and always took an interest in what Griffen was doing, even when outside of Red Oak. Griffen said Maher had a huge impact on the community, and because of his interest in Red Oak and southwest Iowa, Maher has set an example everyone can draw on.
“It’s a huge loss, but his impact, and his footprint, was a huge developer for southwest Iowa and our community. George will live on, because of his impact in the people he developed and took an interest in, and his impact in the community and area he took an interest in. It’s a loss for us, but George’s life was a huge gain for all of us,” commented Griffen.
Maher was born on Dec 4, 1930, and was raised in Page County, Villisca and Red Oak. He graduated from Red Oak High School in 1949 and served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He then attended Northwest Missouri State University graduating with a business degree in 1957.
Maher married Patricia Adams on Nov. 24, 1956, in Red Oak, Iowa. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last November. Maher taught school for one year in Des Moines before moving back to Red Oak. He worked for Fifield Furniture, and later, Houghton State Bank, where he worked for 44 years before retiring. During his time at Houghton, the bank was named the number one bank in the Hawkeye Bancorporation several times.