LAKEPORT, Calif. – A former Lakeport City Council member and mayor who devoted himself to making Lakeport a better place and to helping children both at home and around the world has died.
Arlin A. Pischke died Sunday following a brief illness. He was 75 years old.
“We’ve lost a great member of the community,” said Eric Wheaton, a fellow Kiwanian who called Pischke “a great friend.”
Pischke was a businessman, a founding member of the Lakeport Kiwanis Club, was elected to the Lakeport City Council twice – serving two terms as mayor – and a longtime and dedicated member of St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Church.
Yet, his large and affectionate family was his proudest accomplishment. He and wife Rose raised six children and had 16 grandchildren, whose activities he followed with dedication and pride.
Just days before Pischke died, at what would turn out to be his last Lakeport Kiwanis meeting, his granddaughter Savannah Rasmussen made a presentation to the club. Fellow Kiwanian Dennis Rollins recalled that Pischke was “beaming” as he watched his granddaughter speak.
“He was so proud of his family,” said Rollins.
Son-in-law Brad Rasmussen, the city of Lakeport’s police chief and also a member of Kiwanis, said that Pischke – who arrived in Lakeport in 1978 – was active in the community and wanted to make Lakeport a better place to live.
Pischke was born Jan. 15, 1939, in Ripon, Wis.
He attended some college and went on to serve in the United States Army Reserve from February 1957 to January 1959, the US Navy from January 1959 to February 1963, and the US Navy Reserve from February 1963 to July 1967.
During his time in the Navy he worked in a military justice court as a yeoman, the equivalent of a civilian court reporter.
Later he and Rose would move from El Monte, Calif., back to Wisconsin, where he owned a sporting goods store in Ripon for a year. Daughter Karyn was born there before they moved back to California, to West Covina, and from there to Lakeport in 1978, where he opened the ran the Summitt Title Co.
The same year that he arrived in Lake County, he became a charter member of what was then known as the Northshore Kiwanis Club, based in Nice, according to Rasmussen.
Pischke served as the club’s president from 1979 to 1980, and in 1980 the club became the Lakeport Kiwanis, Rasmussen said.
From 2003 to 2004 Pischke would serve again as the Lakeport Kiwanis president. “The Kiwanis was a big deal in his life,” according to Rasmussen.
“He was always the most positive person,” said Rollins, adding, “He was always there and always took a positive approach to things we ought to do.”
Rollins and Wheaton both recalled Pischke as a kind and generous man, who was always willing to pitch in and do everything from selling raffle tickets to putting on pancake breakfasts.
Wheaton added that Pischke would have given anyone who needed it the shirt off of his own back.
Pischke also didn’t hesitate to take on leadership roles for club projects. Among the projects close to Pischke’s heart were those that centered on children.
“He was really committed to serving the children of the world” – Lake County’s children as well as those elsewhere around the globe, Rasmussen said.
Those projects, Rasmussen said, included the Kiwanis Family House, which provides temporary housing and support to families of seriously ill or injured children and adults being treated at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center in Sacramento.
Rasmussen said Pischke also did a lot of work supporting international Kiwanis programs to eliminate neonatal tetanus and iodine deficiency.
“He always put others before himself,” Rasmussen said.
Wheaton remembered another side of Pischke. “Arlin was the consummate happy man.”
When Pischke started to tell a story, he always began with a big, hearty laugh, Wheaton said.
On the civic level, Pischke served two terms on the Lakeport City Council, taking office in April 1982 and finishing his tenure in April 1990, according to City Clerk Janel Chapman.
During those eight years on the council, Pischke was mayor twice – from April of 1984 to April 1985, and from April 1988 to April 1989, Chapman said.
Pischke made appearances at council meetings up until recently, whether it was to weigh in on important community matters or to watch another grandchild be honored for an accomplishment.
For 36 years, Pischke was very involved in his church, Mt. Mary Immaculate, where he served on the board that supported the building of the new church in the mid-1980s, Rasmussen said.
When he wasn’t busy helping build churches, govern the city or working on Kiwanis projects, Pischke enjoyed woodworking, gardening and fishing on Clear Lake. Rasmussen said his father-in-law loved living in Lakeport, with his view of the lake.
But, Rasmussen added, the most important thing was spending time with family and the grandchildren.
Arlin Pischke is survived by wife, Rose; and his six children, son, Arlin and wife, Danielle; daughter, Kathy and husband Dave Schultz; daughter, Allyson and husband Scott Quinlan; daughter, Karyn and husband Brad Rasmussen; son, Kevin and wife Dena Pischke; and daughter, Susan and husband David Wolf.
He also leaves behind his 16 grandchildren, Andrew, Megan, Cooper, Paige, Zeke and Fisher Pischke; Cody, Kelsey and Samuel Quinlan; Stephanie and Savannah Rasmussen; Jake, Josh and Sarah Schultz; and Logan and Ciara Wolf.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. this Saturday, May 3, at St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, 801 N Main St, Lakeport, with a graveside service to follow at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, located on Highway 175 one mile from the intersection of Highway 29 and 175.
The Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team will render military honors – including a rifle volley and the playing of “Taps” – during the graveside service.
A reception will take place after the graveside service at the St. Mary Immaculate Parish Hall next to the church.
In lieu of flowers, Pischke’s family asks that donations be made in his memory to the Kiwanis Family House, www.kiwanisfamilyhouse.org .
Checks to the Kiwanis Family House also may be mailed to the Lakeport Kiwanis Club at P.O. Box 1027, Lakeport, CA 95453-1027.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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