Half a century ago, John Soderberg led the charge to save the Willow River in Wisconsin.
Soderberg, the longtime president and CEO of First National Community Bank in New Richmond, Wis., founded Restore Our Willow River and spearheaded the creation of the Upper Willow Rehabilitation District, which required the signatures of 51 percent of the affected landowners; Soderberg got 62 percent.
The skills Soderberg gained during that process were instrumental in his work as a stakeholder in the development of the new St. Croix River bridge south of Stillwater, said his son, Scott Soderberg, who lives in Hudson.
“He knew you had to involve all the stakeholders,” Scott Soderberg said. “You had to have people who were knowledgeable and include people who were opposed to it to get things done. Those efforts really paid off for him when it came to the bridge.”
The bridge project was “dead as a doornail” when Soderberg joined the St. Croix River Crossing Coalition, a 28-member stakeholder group that forged compromises for the long-debated bridge proposal in the early 2000s, Scott Soderberg said.
“He had had enough of people talking about it, and it not going anywhere,” Scott Soderberg said. “He knew that there was no other alternative. There was no gray area there, and he made it absolutely his mission to see it built. It took an act of Congress and the president’s signature to get it done, but he persevered when this thing was dead, dead, dead all those times. That, I think, is probably the greatest gift that he gave to this community. This doesn’t happen without his perseverance through those times. It was the signature achievement of his life.”
John Soderberg died March 13 at the Deerfield Gables Care Center in New Richmond of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. He was 88.
Bridge effort began in 1996
During an interview with the Pioneer Press in 2017, just a few weeks before the bridge opened, Soderberg said he had a ready answer for people who asked him if the bridge was going to be built in their lifetime. “My answer was, ‘Yes, but take good care of yourself,’” Soderberg, then 83, said.
Soderberg began working on getting a new St. Croix River bridge in 1996 because he “got so sick and tired of hearing about it,” he told the Pioneer Press.
As others got on board, momentum built, according to Soderberg. “It just kind of picked up, and the snowball got bigger and bigger,” he said. “They finally figured out … how nice it would be if you would save between 15 and 20 minutes just driving through Stillwater and that there wouldn’t be all those big trucks going through downtown.”
Soderberg was so moved by the sight of the new bridge that he “almost broke down and cried” when he first saw it, he told the Hudson Star-Observer in 2017. “It’s a beautiful sight. It’s got a pedestrian and bicycle walkway. I stood there in the middle of the bridge and looked north up the river and watched the water coming down. It’s the most beautiful scene I’ve ever had.”
Soderberg was “an asset to the community at large, not just New Richmond,” said former Stillwater Mayor Jay Kimble, who served with Soderberg on the St. Croix Crossing Coalition. “He was a mover and shaker, reliable, honest, trustworthy, anything good you could possibly say about a guy. His honor and integrity were impeccable. He became a mentor for me just in the way he dealt with people and cared and listened.”
Soderberg was a fan of Winston Churchill and would often quote the English prime minister, Kimble said.
“His attitude was, and I’m quoting Churchill here: ‘Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense,’” he said. “That was his attitude toward the bridge project.”
‘Mr. New Richmond’
Soderberg, known as “Mr. New Richmond,” served on nearly every city commission, board and foundation, including the Industrial Development Commission, Economic Development Commission, Community Development Authority, New Richmond Area Community Foundation and Kiwanis Club.
“He was civic-minded to the hilt,” Scott Soderberg said. “He was trained that way, he grew up that way, he didn’t know any other way. It was always about doing everything in your power for the betterment of New Richmond and western Wisconsin.”
Said his daughter Libby Soderberg: “Dad cherished the community of New Richmond and his relationships here. The well-being of the community and the people in it meant everything to him. In every business decision he made, he considered the present and future impact on New Richmond and the surrounding region. Most of all, he never overlooked people in need. He had a giant heart.”
John Soderberg was born and raised in New Richmond; his father, Henning Soderberg, was president and CEO of First National Bank. John Soderberg graduated in 1952 from New Richmond High School, where he played basketball and football.
College stunt made national news
He went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a year and then transferred to Hamline University in St. Paul, where he majored in business with an emphasis on public speaking. He served as president of the Hamline Student Senate and was student fundraising chairman of the Hamline Centennial fundraising drive.
But Soderberg was most famous at Hamline for a stunt he pulled as a pledge for the Alpha Sigma Chi fraternity in February 1957 — a stunt that made national news.
“The joke backfired on Alpha Sigma Chi fraternity at Hamline University Saturday, when pledge John Soderberg returned home bearing Detroit’s beauteous Miss Torchy in his arms,” according to a Detroit Times article that was picked up by the Associated Press.
Soderberg’s fraternity brothers, as part of his initiation, put Soderberg on a Detroit-bound airplane on a Friday night and told him to deliver a jug containing $10 in pennies to a United Foundation representative in Detroit. “For his journey, they decked him out in red plaid Bermuda shorts, an Ivy League cap and a college pennant, gave him two candy bars to eat, took his money away, and provided him a ticket for a one-way trip only,” according to the article.
As a parting order, they told Soderberg to bring back some United Foundation souvenirs to prove he’d followed through on his task.
Fortunately, Soderberg was befriended by a Detroit Times reporter at the airport in Detroit and brought to the newsroom. The reporter fed Soderberg and arranged for his transport to the United Foundation, Scott Soderberg said.
When he arrived at the foundation office, he found Virginia Lemanski, who had just been crowned “Miss Torchy,” the foundation’s princess for the year.
“Boy, I’d sure like to take you back with me to show I was here,” Soderberg is quoted in the Detroit Times as saying. “They told me to bring back some United Foundation souvenirs to prove I did this. You’re the best souvenir I can think of.”
Soderberg, Lemanski and a chaperone flew back to Wold-Chamberlain Field, the precursor to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the next day; United Foundation officials footed the bill for the tickets, Soderberg said.
Soderberg’s fraternity brothers greeted him at the airport “as he stepped off the plane … carrying the 122-pound Miss Torchy in his arms,” according to the article.
“They brought her back to the frat house and had a big dinner,” Scott Soderberg said. “That was his life, I tell you. That was his personality. It was a real forerunner of how things would go for him. He would make the best of a situation, no matter how dire.”
Started as bank teller
After he graduated from Hamline in 1957, Soderberg joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. “His father, Henning, was in charge of the St. Croix County Draft Board, and he certainly heard from local farmers, ‘Hey, you can’t take my boy, we need him on the farm,’” Scott Soderberg said. “He was not going to let Dad go undrafted.”
While at Hamline, Soderberg met Patricia Bracher, a fellow student who was a “little sister” at his fraternity. The two married in 1958 and had two children; the couple divorced in 1980.
Soderberg worked as a salesman for Paul Amidon and Associates before joining First National Bank. “He was out selling educational materials and textbooks for three or four years before Henning allowed him to come and work at the bank,” Scott Soderberg said. “Working there taught him how to present himself. He truly learned to understand people and what their needs were.”
Soderberg’s father insisted he learn the banking business “from the ground up,” Scott Soderberg said. He started as a teller in 1964, worked in lending and bank loans and eventually became vice president under his father. He was named president and CEO in 1987. In the ensuing years, he oversaw expansion of the bank to branches in Somerset, Hudson and Dresser.
Scott Soderberg and Libby Soderberg are the third-generation owners of the bank; Scott Soderberg serves as chairman and CEO.
John Soderberg married Hubertina “Tini” Gill in 1995; she died in 2017.
In addition to his two children, Soderberg is survived by four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Thursday at the R&D Banquet Facility (Ready Randy’s) in New Richmond, with visitation from 1 to 4 p.m. The Bakken-Young Funeral Home in New Richmond is handling arrangements.
