A man of character

Austin bid farewell to a devoted civic and political leader earlier this month.

Leo Reding passed away Oct. 12 after a brief illness. A former mayor, council member and representative, Leo was remembered for taking his job to give back, and he tried to use his time in several offices to better the community.

If there was one thing that stood out about Leo, it was his character.

“He was genuinely a nice person,” Leo’s daughter, Colleen Reding, said. “Everyone, from nurses to staff to other residents, they would all say, ‘You know, your dad is the nicest person.’ And he was a politician his whole life.”

Born in Austin on the family farm, Leo represented his community over the years through various political posts. He also worked for 30 years at Hormel Foods Corp. Considered one of the founders of the original Mower County Young DFL Party, Leo also was elected as a city council member in 1968, he served as mayor of Austin from 1970 to 1974, and he served for 18 years in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

“He was a real asset to our community, so his family and friends have our condolences,” Mayor Tom Stiehm said at Monday’s Austin City Council meeting.

Colleen recalled a political picnic her family attended years ago, and her father being called out and honored by Mark Dayton, a former U.S. Senator and current governor. She remembered Dayton saying, “This man has been there for the Democratic party his whole life, and I want you all to acknowledge it.”

“It was so nice,” she said.

Leo’s daughter, Laurie Reding, said her father’s commitment wasn’t for glory of being in the public eye, but to give back to the community and do his part to make the world a better place.

“He believed that you were called to serve, and he didn’t do it for the glory of it,” she said.

“It was truly because he believed that you had a duty to serve the public,” she added. “You had a duty to give back.”

Laurie said there wasn’t many family meals where the phone didn’t ring with someone calling for him, and Leo answered every call and listened and answered questions.

“Because he believed that’s what you were supposed to do,” she said.

Leo worked in various areas over his lifetime, and even worked on Hubert Humphry’s mayoral campaign. A devout Catholic, Leo believed in honoring the commitments he made and followed the golden rule of do unto others what you’d like them to do for you.

“He really lived that,” Laurie said. “He really, truly was a good man, and we’re going to miss him a lot.”

Leo didn’t only inspire his own family, though. Colleen received many Facebook messages after her father passed away saying Leo was the reason they got into politics themselves, and they were happy to walk door to door for his campaign. He didn’t spend all his time in the office though, and the rest of his time was spent with his family. Leo met his wife, Marian, while working as a football coach in college. They were engaged six weeks after they met, and were married about ten weeks later. They spent almost 63 years together.

“They were madly in love, and it was cute,” Colleen said. “Great models for us, really good models for us.”

Marian passed away about three years ago.

The couple had five children: Colleen, Laurie, Tom, Terry and Maureen. Leo spent much of his time outside of work with his family, whether it was driving to hockey games or watching the clock at the municipal pool when his children were in swimming.

“He was truly a family person,” Colleen said. “We grew up always, every summer taking a vacation with my [relatives].“

Laurie remembered her father saying, “You know, your friends will come and go, but your family is forever.”

She said they could set their watch by their dad, because he always came home at the same time for lunch and at the end of the day. She said her father never went out to bars after work or did many other activities unless he brought along the family, preferring to just come home.

“He loved us,” she said. “I mean, he just loved us so much.”

She remembered their father always stood by them regardless of any wrong choices they may have made.

Though he didn’t care much for the political parties and excitement that came with the job, Leo’s daughters remembered their mother’s love for the excitement. Colleen recalled he used to make jokes that “he was pretty sure the only reason he was getting reelected was because of her.”

Whenever he went somewhere, Colleen and Laurie recalled it was usually to see someone. Yet he experienced many things in his lifetime, trying horseback riding, snorkeling, whitewater rafting, sailing and more.

“He tried everything when you took him someplace,” Colleen said.

She learned a lot from her father, one big lesson being that you can’t always have your way, and compromise and tact could take you a long way in life — even if you didn’t like it. Leo also taught people to be conscious of the environment, as he cared strongly for nature. He earned awards over his time for caring about the environment, trying to get more holding ponds in town and other things. He loved trapping, fishing and hunting, but Laurie said he liked to do it right.

“He was a huge conservationist, and very much devoted to doing the right things for nature,” she said.

“He was really ahead of his time when it came to conservation and the environment,” she added. “I think because he loved the outdoors.”

After buying the family farm when his father passed away, he dedicated several acres of land to an environmental group. He also grew many vegetables in his own garden, which he would pass out to everyone.

“He would go to everybody’s back door with piles of corn and cucumber and tomatoes and just drop it off,” Colleen said. “Everybody had fresh vegetables.”