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Metzger new Sonoma Alcalde
By ARI SOGLIN
I-T Staff Writer
Crawford, Neb. has changed little since Jim Metzger grew up on a ranch there.
The 79-year-old Sonoman says about 1,200 people lived in the town after the turn of the century. And the population now is about the same.
Metzger, too, has had constants in his life, such as his work in agricultural engineering and his 58-year marriage to Verna.
But unlike Crawford, Neb., Jim Metzger has come and gone a long way.
A Midwesterner who grew up helping his German immigrant father on his horse ranch, Metzger today is being recognized at a luncheon as the city of Sonoma's Honorary Alcalde for 1987.
Between the horse ranch and Sonoma honor, Metzger has defied the stereotype of monotony that often is attached to the engineering field.
His work has taken him to Turkey and Amman, Jordan for extended tenures, and he has had special assignments in India, Nepal, Japan and Colombia.
But before studying agriculture at the University of Nebraska, Metzger took a shot at ranching. Jim and Verna rented a 2,000-acre Nebraska ranch and purchased cattle and equipment Oct. 1, 1929.
THE STOCK market crashed 28 days later, the Great Depression was on and the Metzgers lost their investment.
"I was lucky I went broke in three years," Metzger says. "Some of my friends with more money lasted longer but still went broke."
After receiving an agriculture degree in 1934, he spent the next 20 years doing irrigation and flood control engineering in Nebraska and Colorado.
He began what has become a voluminous passport in 1955 when the U.S. government offered him a position as irrigation advisor in Turkey.
Despite the cultural differences, Metzger felt at home in the Middle East.
"It was amazing how much of rural Turkey fit my background," he says, referring a childhood that was homework by kerosene light, a wood stove for heating and riding a horse five miles to school.
"I got along better in rural Turkey than some of my Turkish counterparts who grew up in cities," he says.
THE RURAL atmosphere Turn to A9 Continued from A1 of Sonoma was what attracted him when he first visited friends and family here in 1957.
"I love the small-town atmosphere," he said. "You know the people you're working with. I don't know of any better place to live."
After Turkey, Metzger's next assignment was in Amman Jordan from 1960 to 1967.
While not working, Metzger attended the Rotary International Club there, which acknowledged his presence by conducting its meetings in English. His travels took him to 35 Rotary clubs in 28 countries, he said.
A Rotarian for 41 years, retirement in Sonoma in 1976 has given Metzger the opportunity to become involved with a myriad of additional groups: the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce, Vintage House Senior Center, Sonoma Congregational Church, Home Care Connections and Branch 41 SIRS.
He also was appointed in 1978 by then-1st District county Supervisor Brian Kahn to serve on a Ground Water Advisory Committee, and this year Supervisor Janet Nicholas appointed him to the Sonoma Valley Zone 3A Flood Control Advisory Committee.
ALONG WITH those activities, Metzger keeps busy with four children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
"I'm a workaholic," Metzger says. "I can't sit around the home; I have to have something to do."
As Sonoma's 12th Honorary Alcalde, he'll have even more to do, representing the city with the alcalde cane during various ceremonies and celebrations.
Traditionally used as the staff of office in the early days of California, the cane was used to settle property line disputes.
The post of alcalde has its roots in the Spanish colonial tradition, and historically the alcalde served as the final authority in the pueblo.
Once California achieved its statehood, the position was dissolved. Sonoma was without an alcalde until the City Council revived the post in 1976 as an honorary position.
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Metzger Memories
