The De Pere Dozen

Tony Walter column: Dirty dozen voters spoiled De Pere's batch

October 26, 2008 - They were never identified, so we'll just call them the De Pere Dozen.
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On a breezy Tuesday almost 56 years ago, 12 city residents committed what, at the time, was the cardinal sin of constitutional neglect. They didn't vote in the presidential election.

Every other registered voter in De Pere voted.

It was the election between Republican Dwight Eisenhower and Democrat Adlai Stevenson. A group of civic leaders, led by WJPG radio station newswriter Jack Yuenger, launched an effort to get a 100 percent voter turnout, a goal that probably seemed unreachable.

They almost reached it.

When all the ballots were counted, 4,193 of the 4,205 registered voters in the city cast a ballot. It translated to 99.68 percent and received national attention.

The city then had four wards, two on each side of the river.

Larry Carney, an east-side barber, was ward captain for the 1st Ward and had just two nonvoters. Ray Van Dyke, who worked at John Baeten & Sons and marshaled voters from the 2nd Ward on the east side, also had two nonvoters. Ray Gevers, a west-side barber, got all but three of his voters from the 3rd Ward, and west side restaurant-bar owner Art Beecher had five who failed to vote in the 4th Ward.

The organization was impressive. Every ward captain had block captains, and several organizations pitched in. They included young people from the Youth Service and Recreation Association, and volunteers from the Women's Club of De Pere, the Catholic Women's Club, the Legion Auxiliary, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, the American Legion and VFW.

Bette Hayes headed a program committee that organized pre-election, nonpartisan rallies, and several St. Norbert College students assisted her. More than 200 absentee ballots were collected in advance and about 100 ballots were mailed in from De Pere voters in the military. Auto dealers in the city provided free transportation. Baby-sitting was provided at Legion Hall on North Michigan Street.

Austin Wilber, an 84-year-old retired sociology and economics professor, left New York City early after visiting his daughter so he could get home in time to vote. A very pregnant woman stopped to vote before her husband rushed her off to Bellin Hospital.

Interestingly, there was a high school football game on election night. West De Pere and De Pere played at Minahan Stadium before 2,300 fans, their first meeting in almost 40 years, and voting totals were announced during the game, won by West De Pere 26-21.

Of course, De Pere has never again come close to matching that voter percentage. Four years ago, 78 percent of the registered voters in De Pere voted. Charlene Peterson, city clerk and treasurer, is predicting an 80 percent to 85 percent turnout this year, well above the state average.

But you'd like to know who those 12 people were.

Tony Walter is a columnist for the Press-Gazette. He can be reached at (920) 431-8360.


Wow. I wonder how turnout will be this year? Good on the donky side certainly but the elephants have gotten their fear vote on.