Financial adviser sold insurance for 20 years

2/2/2004

NAPOLEON - Arthur H. Wachtmann, a financial adviser who served on three area school boards, died Thursday of leukemia at his home here.

Mr. Wachtmann, 70, was on the board of St. Paul Lutheran School in the mid-1960s and on the Napoleon board for eight years beginning in the mid-1970s.

While he was on the board, the Napoleon school district faced a financial crunch.

“He served during a time when major levy decisions had to be made,” his sister, Ruth Precht, said.

He later was on the Four County Vocational School board for six years.

Mr. Wachtmann was born in Defiance and graduated from Delta High School. As a young man, he worked at Tony s Bakery in Napoleon.

From 1960 until 1980, he was a mail carrier for the Napoleon post office. He enjoyed the job because he was able to chat with neighbors, his sister said, and he made many friends.

Mr. Wachtmann was an insurance agent for Lutheran Brotherhood in Napoleon from 1980 until 2000, when he decided to open his own business. “He felt there was more diversity in it, and he could offer more to clients by opening his own business,” his sister said.

At his firm, Wachtmann Financial Advisory Services, he offered advice on investments, financial planning, and insurance.

Mr. Wachtmann belonged to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Napoleon, where he was a Sunday school superintendent for several years.

Surviving are his wife, Luetta; sons, Duane and David; daughters, Kathryn Badenhop, Linda Sines, Lynette Burner, Karen Weaver, and Linda Helberg; brother, John; sisters, Ruth Precht and Voleta Willford, and 15 grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. today at St. Paul Lutheran Church. Rodenberger Funeral Home, Napoleon, handled arrangements. The family suggests tributes to the Lutheran Heritage Foundation or St. Paul Lutheran School.