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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly May '98
George Frederick Otte, Jr. No.15564 Class of 1946
Died in Los Altos, California 31 October 1996. Interment: Encrypted
in Fairhaven Cemetery, Santa Ana, California.
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Born in river Rouge, MI, George had two Lutheran
pastors as grandfathers. This firstborn, his family decided,
also was destined for the ministry. Entering the seminary at
Ft. Wayne at the age of 11 (he had been double promoted twice),
he was presumed ready for ordination before he was out of his
teens. But he resisted taking that decisive step, feeling he
had not had "the call." As he told his family later,
"I realized I would rather be responsible for a thousand
men's lives than one man's soul."
And there was a war on, so he went to West Point.
After the academic rigors of seminary, where he
attained fluency in languages from ancient Greek to modern German,
George "handled the rigorous system at West Point well.
He made fun of some of the less than useful parts of the system
while taking the overall experience as a meaningful and useful
one," recalls one classmate.
Another remembers that "he had a serious side,
but I can easily recall his laugh, he liked to have fun."
Cadet Commander of G-2 Company his first class year, George enjoyed
his days at the Academy. He was finally with classmates his own
age and, having grown into his baritone voice and his 6'2"
frame, had his best times singing with the Cadet Choir and playing
intramural basketball.
Choosing Armor, George took the basic course at
the Armor School at Ft. Knox and then, in 1947, shipped out to
Germany with the U.S. Constabulary. In Schwabach with the 53d
Squadron and eager to use his fluency in German, he found the
"hoch Deutsch" he knew a far cry from the "bayerische
Deutsch" spoken in Schwabach. A classmate with him remembers
it was "like putting a Londoner down in the mountains of
Eastern Tennessee." That classmate reports that George was
known to conduct chapel services in the absence of a chaplain.
The tour was cut short by a serious automobile accident.
Emerging from Walter Reed in Washington, DC, George
joined the Office of Secretary to the General Staff in the Pentagon
and also served as a White House aide. It was after this tour
that, in a six week courtship, he met and then, on 17 Aug 1952,
married Betty Mae Wallace. Betty joined George as he returned
to Ft. Knox for the advanced course at the Armor School.
Next, the Army sent him to the University of Missouri
at Columbia to earn a master of arts in journalism. Berry and
George's first child was born there in 1953. Their second child
was born at the Presidio of San Francisco in 1955, and, after
another tour at the Pentagon, their third was born while he attended
Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth from 1959-60.
George had to leave his growing family to serve
with the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea, but the family was soon
together again at that familiar port of sorts, Ft. Knox, where
George first served on the faculty and then was the Secretary
of the General Staff.
From 1964-66 he commanded the 2d Battalion, 34th
Armor, at Ft. Irwin. He followed that coveted assignment with
a three year tour as Public Affairs Officer with European Command
in France and, later, relocated to Stuttgart Germany. He returned
to Ft. Knox a last time to command the School Brigade. As the
1970s began, he went to Vietnam as the G-l of 2d Field Force.
His last assignment was as Professor of Military
Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from
1972 -74. Retiring as a colonel in 1974, George joined Betty
in a successful real estate practice she had established in Santa
Barbara while he was in Vietnam. There, they lived comfortably
as their children went off to colleges, careers, and marriage.
But as the 1970s ended, George developed heart problems, leading
to a double bypass operation. During the operation, his blood
lost the capacity to clot, and he required mass transfusions.
One consequence of these many blood transfusions was a bad bout
of hepatitis. Another consequence, quite possibly, was the development
of Parkinson's disease more than a decade later.
As the disease became more debilitating George
and Betty moved to Los Altos, where their two daughters lived.
In the fall of 1996, George developed pneumonia
and died. He was buried in Santa Ana where his parents were buried.
He is survived by his younger siblings, James and Nancy; his
wife Betty; and his children; George, Lois, and Carol.
George never changed from the person his classmates
remember at West Point: hard working, with a serious side but,
above all, a lover of life, music, and laughter. A devoted father
and grandfather, each of his three children had three children,
he is remembered most by his family as a man who loved to sing
and tell jokes and stories. But they, too, remember his serious
side, not so much serious as upright.
His favorite biblical figure was Joshua, the faithful
soldier who promised. "As for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord." And George kept his promise.
'46 Memorial Article Project and his son George
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