C. Eugene Conger, a high school science and German teacher and volunteer for the annual German-American Festival who had an interest in a wide range of international cultures, died Tuesday in his residence at Genesis Village in South Toledo. He was 89.

He had congestive heart failure, his son, Craig, said. Mr. Conger and his wife, Naomi, longtime South Toledo residents, moved to the Genesis Village senior community several years ago.

For much of Mr. Conger’s career, he taught science and German at Waite High School. His aim was to spark an interest in students and to see them achieve. He tutored after school and continued to advise the German Club after the language was no longer offered at Waite.

“He was old school, strict,” his son said. “He always felt that it was a good thing he was doing.”

Mr. Conger retired in 1987, closing his career at Bowsher High School, where he was able to exclusively teach German.

“That was bliss. It didn’t get any better than that,” his son said.

He was born July 18, 1927, to Dorice and Clarence Conger. He was a 1946 graduate of Libbey High School. His Latin teacher, Pauline Burton, inspired his study of language and his eventual career choice. At school he was a member of the Junior Classical League. In 2010, he joined more than 1,000 others for the last alumni reunion at the school, which closed that year.

“It was an outstanding school at one time,” Mr. Conger told The Blade then. “Boy! Did we have spirit!

“Because we were students here during World War II, we had more spirit,” he said. “We were very patriotic. We even bought a Jeep with what we saved and then donated it to the Army.”

He was a stateside veteran of the Army Air Corps, serving as a medical technician. Later he worked in a similar capacity at a veterans hospital in Dayton, at Toledo Hospital, and at the former Maumee Valley Hospital in Toledo, said Jim Bradley, a longtime neighbor and friend.

Mr. Conger received a bachelor’s degree in 1952 from the University of Toledo, where he was a German major, and attended Middlebury College in Vermont.

He was a member of the Bavarian Sports Club, the German Beneficial Union, and the Swiss Club. He was devoted to the German-American Festival in Oregon. His brainchild was the annual Hummel Look-Alike Contest, in which children at the festival dress and pose as a Hummel porcelain figurine.

He also was a folk dancer — schuhplattler was his speciality — and learned dances of other cultures through events sponsored by the International Institute. He was a former board member, helped immigrants learn English, and in 1972 received the institute’s distinguished service award.

“He could greet people in six or eight or 10 languages,” Mr. Bradley said. “He was a friendly, open, accepting person.”

For at least 30 years, the Congers had foreign exchange students stay with them. Many stayed in touch.

His concern extended to the future of the planet and its inhabitants, and he was a supporter of conservation efforts.

Surviving are his wife, Naomi, whom he married June 23, 1954; son, Craig, and brother Francis Lee Conger.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Friday at the Coyle Funeral Home, with funeral services at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The family suggests tributes to the German-American Festival scholarship fund or Nature’s Nursery Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation Education near Whitehouse.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published June 8, 2017, 4:00 a.m.