Former county collector overcame adversity, friends say

Former county collector Harold Kuehle, who offered a smile and a handshake to everyone he met, died at his Cape Girardeau home Monday after battling cancer on and off for the past six years. He was 67.

Friends and acquaintances mourned the death of the county's longtime former collector who was a household name to local taxpayers. He served as county tax collector for 32 years, retiring in February 1999.

"I never heard him complain about feeling bad or feeling sick or feeling sorry for himself," said friend and former co-worker Clara Morrison. "There was never any self-pity."

Said Morrison, "I don't want to try to paint him as a saint, but maybe he is now."

Kuehle spent much of his life in a wheelchair, the victim of a high school football accident when he was 16.

Friends said he never thought of himself as handicapped.

He learned to drive a specially-equipped car. Kuehle, who grew up in Cape Girardeau, graduated from Southeast Missouri State University.

He managed to get an education even when it meant other students had to carry him up the steps at Academic Hall.

Kuehle was elected public administrator for the county in 1964. Two years later, he was elected county collector.

When he first took office as county collector in 1967, there was no elevator at the county courthouse in Jackson. Kuehle had to rely on others to carry him upstairs to his office.

In 1972, the Cape Girardeau Republican ran unsuccessfully for Missouri secretary of state, losing to Democratic incumbent James C. Kirkpatrick.

He flew around the state, often making campaign stops at airports where the restrooms weren't accessible to people in wheelchairs.

In an interview in 1998, Kuehle said he didn't regret his foray into statewide politics. But he said the experience made him realize he wanted to continue serving as county collector.

He was active in the Cape Girardeau Jaycees before getting into politics. His nickname was "Wheels."

"Everybody knew who 'Wheels' was," Morrison said.

H. Weldon Macke, retiring county auditor, said Kuehle was adept at getting around in his wheelchair. "I've never seen anybody able to handle a wheelchair like he could," he said.

"He was one of the finest guys I ever worked with," said Macke. "To me, he was almost like a brother."

"His spirits were always up. He was always upbeat," said Miki Gudermuth, executive director of the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence.

"He was a neat guy and I am going to miss him terribly," said Gudermuth. Kuehle, she said, pushed for buildings to be made more accessible to the handicapped. But she said he did so without being confrontational.

"He didn't browbeat anybody," she said.

His philosophy was summed up in a bumper sticker on his van. "The biggest handicap is people's attitudes," it read.

Kuehle attended Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau, the same church that Morrison attends.

"I never heard anybody say a bad word about that man. He was a kind, kind Christian man," she said.

Kuehle was a steady churchgoer, seated in his wheelchair in the aisle alongside a church pew where his wife, Peggy, would sit. He taught Sunday school.

He used to visit people in the hospital to help them cope with having to use a wheelchair, friends said.

"God was number one in his life," said Diane Diebold who succeeded Kuehle as county collector in 1999. "What got to you was his overwhelming faith and belief in God."

Diebold said this has been a rough time for Kuehle's wife, Peggy, whose mother died two weeks ago.

Diebold said Kuehle never let his bouts with cancer get him down. "He just never gave up," she said.

Visitation for Kuehle will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Grace United Methodist Church.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123