E.E. HUSBAND

Former Ledger Publisher dies at 96

 

E. E. Husband who was publisher of the Polk County Ledger for 32 years until his retirement in 1939, died at the Golden Age Manor at Amery, Saturday, Feb. 16. Had he lived one more month he would have been 97 years old.

            Services for the man who came to Balsam Lake before it was a village and a county seat and when only a trail wound thru the settlement were held in the united Methodist church, Balsam Lake, Tuesday afternoon. He was one of the first members of that church when it was the Methodist Episcopal church and the building was southwest of the village across from the cemetery where he will be interred. The first church site is marked by the Polk County Historical Society of which he was a charter member. The Society and the County Museum were given most of his possessions of historical value some years back. None of his immediate family survived him, but three nephews and a niece took that place; Clyde Park of Hartford, Wis.; Leslie Park of Minneapolis; Ross Husband of Rochester, Minn., and Marion, Mrs. Harry Deaver of Homestead, Fla.

            Husband was active in county and state politics, two terms from 1926 thru 1930, was appointed clerk of court in 1917 and served thru 1926 when Walter T. Peterson was elected, as register of deeds in 1941 on the death of John H. Towers and served thru 1942, he was at various times a deputy sheriff, was village clerk when the village was incorporated, he served on the county board from 1916 to 1917 when he resigned to become clerk of court, serving again on the board in 1940 and in 1946 he was elected county board supervisor and served thru 1952. In later years he was justice of the peace for Balsam Lake village before the establishment of the county’s small claim court and heard many cases. He was a member of the draft board in both World Wars and was clerk of the draft board following WWII. He held offices in the county Republican party and was an active worker in it.