Outstanding Citizen Award

Doub Knoble receives 2007 Outstanding Citizen Award

The Outstanding Citizen Award is sponsored by the Boscobel Chamber of Commerce and established in memory of Chuck Yahn, a Boscobel Businessman, a church, school, and community booster.

Nominations for this award are submitted by Boscobel area residents each year. This community has many devoted people who give endless hours in community service year after year. It is an honor to receive this nomination. Once a name is received, the nominee will remain eligible for the next three years.

The selection committee has a most difficult task each year, selecting one nominee to receive this award.

The award recipient this year is a home grown Boscobel boy who was raised on a Shockley Hill farm, overlooking the Wisconsin River. Those were the days when a farm was a "kid paradise," with lots of calves, puppies, kittens, and dirt to play in. There was always plenty of work to be done with lots of love and lots of fun to be had as well. Being the fifth child of eight meant he could slip off without being noticed, to the shed with trucks and tractors to make dirt roads and be in his own little world. He was also fifth on the food chain and had a shorter reach than his older brothers; he still eats anything in sight. His aunt and uncle's farm was a second home fo all the kids and he enjoyed putting up hay and getting special treatment when being there. He also enjoyed fishing with his cousin.

Moved to town
The year he started high school, the farm was sold and the family moved to Boscobel. His father worked for Boscobel Oil driving a fuel truck and his mother began working as a library aide at the high school. He was active in basketball and tennis, played trombone in the band and was an honor student at BHS.

In his spare time, he was employed by Vilas Bohlman at Bohlman Drug Store. Vilas took him "under his wing," became his mentor, was influential and encouraged him to become a pharmacist. He received the Kronshage Scholarship and went on to attend pharmacy school at UW-Madison. While at the UW, he played trombone in the renowned UW Marching Band for four years and sported an "Afro" in his wilder days!

He graduated from UW-Madison Pharmacy School in 1977. After completing a summer internship at Bohlman Drug Store and an internship at Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee, he was then hired as staff pharmacist at Deaconess (which is now Good Samaritan Medical Center) where he worked for nine years.

Meets future Wife
While attending church, he met a tall, snazzy blond, a teacher in Hartford, and swept her off her feet. They were married in the fall of 1982. In 1986 he received two phone calls, one from his older brother and one from John Bohlman asking if he would be interested in moving back home because the Boscobel Hospital really needed a pharmacist. After much discussion and prayer, he and his wife decided it would be a good decision to return "home," a good place to work and raise a family. So they moved home during a Thanksgiving blizzard. With the passing time, four children arrived and completed the house into a busy home.

It's been said, "Behind each successful man is a great woman." This man received the gift of two great women, his wife and his mother.

From the time they moved back to his "hometown," to the present day, he has been involved in this community, volunteering his time and helping many different organizations including:

  • 21 years Kiwanis Club (first invited by Vilas Bohlman), Past Present; Secretary; Scholarship Committee; Student of the Month- Coordinator; Empty Stocking Club Volunteer; Easter Egg Hunt worker; Monthly "Banana Night" participant with nursing home residents; Highway Clean-up worker; Peanut Day Fundraising.
  • Volunteer basketball coach for son and daughter's elementary school teams.
  • Fellowship of Christian Athletes - Adult Chapter - Member and Secretary; Annual Chicken Dinner Fundraiser to send teens to FCA Summer Camp; Spring Youth Rally - helps with planning and working at the event to bring in a guest speaker each year.
  • School: 10 years Human Growth & Development Committee - Parent Representative; 2004 Superintendent Selection Committee - Parent Representative; Athletic & Music Booster.
  • Work: Dedicated Boscobel Area Health Care employee; 21 years as Director of Pharmacy Department; 1999 voted Employee of the Year; 2007 Active Participant in Emergency Room Campaign; highly respected by his staff and co-workers at the hospital.
  • Church: 19 years as Church Council Member; 19 years as Youth Leader; Nursing Home Worship Service - helps (with his family) once a month; started an "Early Morning" Inter-Denominational Men's Bible Study (with the late Verl Beeman and Bert Hegge). They've been meeting at the Vale Inn or the Unique Cafe for almost 20 years; 2005 and 2007 went on Medical Mission Trips to Panama and hopes to go again; 2007 was involved in Milwaukee Inner City Outreach Program, Adult Sunday School Teacher.

The list could go on and on...There are also many things he does quietly for the betterment of our community of which we do not know.

He is a man of integrity, humility and servant hood. His strong work ethic, which was molded by his parents and a spirit of volunteerism, shines through in everything he does, be it at home, at work, at church, or in our community. He gives 100% to each organization or group he is part of, never for his own glory or accolades, but rather for the welfare of others.

He is never selfish, constantly thinking of others needs before his own. Above all, he is devoted family man, working hard to ensure that his volunteer work does not interfere with his precious family time.

It is an honor to present the 2007 Outstanding Citizen Award to ....Doug Knoble.