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- [S142] Newspaper Article, Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct 2005.
Lawrence A. `Larry' Nimsgern 1923 - 2005
McHenry barber had `all the news'
By Patricia Trebe, Special to the Tribune.
If news broke out in McHenry, chances were good Lawrence A. "Larry" Nimsgern was one of the first to know.
The four-chair Riverside Barbershop that Mr. Nimsgern owned for more than 40 years was a hub of information.
"It was like the news office," said his wife, Edith. "He was pretty much always aware of what was going on around town at all times. The barbershop had all the news."
As people passed the shop downtown, they often popped in to say hello or share a story.
"It was a traditional barbershop," Mr. Nimsgern's son Scott said. "And he really enjoyed the social atmosphere. My dad was a very social person."
Mr. Nimsgern, 82, of McHenry died Monday, Oct. 24, in the North Chicago Veterans Administration Medical Center of complications from the West Nile virus, his son said.
Born and raised in Spring Grove, Mr. Nimsgern worked for a few years after he graduated from high school. He enlisted in the Army in 1943 and helped construct a road through Canada to Alaska. Mr. Nimsgern also served in the military police and as a staff driver.
He returned to Spring Grove in 1946 and wed two years later. He and his wife moved from Richmond to McHenry in 1950.
After he graduated from barber's college, Mr. Nimsgern worked for several barbers before he opened his shop in 1955.
His professional skills weren't limited to his shop. If a customer or relative of a customer was sick but needed a haircut, Mr. Nimsgern stopped by their homes.
"And for years after he retired he would go to his old customers' homes and do their hair," his son said. "He seemed to be more active after he retired."
After his retirement in the early 1990s, Mr. Nimsgern volunteered, working with the bookkeeper at Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 4600.
"He had personality plus," said Bill Koester, a friend and fellow VFW volunteer. "He was friendly and he was always interested in everybody."
Other survivors include another son, Frank; a daughter, Margaret Zimmerman; a sister, Bernice Lent; seven grandkids; and seven great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Justen and Son Funeral Home, 3519 W. Elm St., McHenry. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Friday in St. Patrick Catholic Church, 3500 W. Washington St., McHenry.
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL), 28 Oct 2005.
An 82-year-old McHenry man died of an infection from West Nile virus Monday, becoming McHenry County's first reported fatality this year from the mosquito-borne illness.
Lawrence Nimsgern , former owner of Riverside Barbershop, went to the emergency room at Northern Illinois Medical Center seven weeks ago complaining of flu symptoms that he could not shake off, said his son, Scott Nimsgern of Zion.
The elder Nimsgern was diagnosed with viral meningitis, which was not linked to West Nile until a second test was run last week, and he was transferred to the North Chicago Veteran's Medical Center, Scott Nimsgern said.
"If you would have met him before he went into the hospital, you wouldn't have thought he was 82," Nimsgern said. "He golfed 27 holes the weekend before."
The former Army sergeant was in prime physical shape despite his age, walking rather than using a cart when he hit the links every week, gardening and taking strolls with his wife, Edith. He had been in the hospital since Sept. 4, Nimsgern said.
"That is one of the reasons he was able to hang on so long, he was in such good shape," Nimsgern said.
West Nile virus is spread by culex mosquitoes and only about one in five people infected will develop symptoms, which are usually mild and easily mistaken for the flu. Serious cases, which include encephalitis, meningitis and other nervous system infections, are more likely among adults over 50.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has recorded 240 human cases of West Nile virus, including 10 deaths, this year. McHenry County has reported three infections.
The county health department incorrectly reported last week that a man hospitalized with West Nile neuroinvasive disease - a category that would includes meningitis - was 72 years old.
The patient was actually 82 years old, said County Health Administrator Pat McNulty, but he would not confirm whether Nimsgern was the same man because of medical privacy laws.
Nimsgern 's funeral Mass is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. today in St. Patrick Catholic Church, 3500 Washington St., McHenry, with a visitation from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. in George R. Justen & Son Funeral Home, 3519 W. Elm St., McHenry.
By NATE LEGUE
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 125048471).
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