Former Prior Lake mayor Wally Stock dies at age 80

Prior Lake American

In the 1970s and 1980s, everyone involved with Prior Lake government knew Wally Stock.

Wally Stock was on the planning commission, the Prior Lake City Council and eventually became the mayor in 1969.

Wally Stock died Sunday. He was 80.

"I remember as a kid — Prior Lake was a much smaller town — but my dad would, on a Saturday, go out and somebody might have a complaint about something and I'd tag along and see him talking to somebody in their driveway about an issue," son Barry Stock said. "Whatever the problem was, he was always trying to come up with a solution."

Wally Stock became mayor right after Prior Lake was chartered as a city, having annexed Eagle Creek and part of Spring Lake Township. A one square mile village suddenly became 18 square miles with about triple the population.

Trailblazing new projects 

Wally Stock also spearheaded the multi-million dollar project to put sanitary sewer and water around Prior Lake — a decision that was not necessarily popular at the time.

Current council member and former city manager Mike McGuire worked for Wally Stock at the time.

"It was maybe the toughest project we ever worked on," McGuire said. "There were a lot of people that didn't like the idea even though we understood it was needed."

The decision forced some homeowners to sell their properties on the lake, unable to afford the assessment. At the time, the move was so unpopular that the entire city council, including Wally Stock, were replaced in the next election.

But the move was necessary, McGuire said.

"The lake was getting rather polluted and it's a relatively healthy lake now," McGuire said. "A lot of the cabins were being converted to a year-round home and those septic tanks couldn't handle it, so they just had that much more stuff flowing into the lake."

Another controversial decision was the city of Prior Lake acquiring the land to create Lakefront Park, which spurred a "significant political rift," former Mayor Ken Hedberg said.

"It was all getting ready for preserving our natural resources and getting ready for the Prior Lake that would become in 30, 40 years ahead," Hedberg said. "That took a tremendous vision for the future."

'Courageous visionary'

Even with the transformative decisions that some didn't agree with, Wally Stock listened to the people as a politician, McGuire said.

"He was really good with people," McGuire said. "In the meetings, he was in charge, but he had a way about doing it, he was typically not offending anyone. Ninety percent of the time, people would walk out satisfied."

The decisions made as mayor influence the city that Prior Lake is today, Hedberg said.

"He was really perhaps the most courageous visionary of all," Hedberg said. "He helped Prior Lake set the stage for what it is today."

His father's career spurred Barry Stock's career in local government — Barry Stock is currently the city administrator for the city of Savage. He even worked for Prior Lake when he was in high school.

"I didn't initially set out to go into local government," Barry Stock said. It dawned on me — it's like, what do you know best? What have you been around your whole life? Absolutely, he had a huge influence."

This influence includes lessons Wally Stock passed on to his children, including listening to people, finding a middle ground and using common sense.

"He always would say, 'Use common sense and be open to new ideas, but not so open that you let your brain fall out,'" Barry Stock said.

Family devotion 

Throughout his life, Wally Stock was a large part of whatever community he lived in. He was a graphics department manager for Continental Machines in Savage. He opened his own printing business in Savage called "Wally's World of Printing." In 1998, he started work at Marketplace Liquor.

"He basically retired three times," Barry Stock said. "He always wanted to work."

Even in his neighborhood where he lived for nearly 40 years, Wally Stock was well-known as the handyman who would be there if anyone needed help, McGuire said. McGuire ended up living about three houses down from Wally Stock.

"He always had the right (tool) you could borrow," McGuire said.

For the last few years, Wally Stock was taking care of his wife, Juliann Stock. Juliann Stock suffered from strokes and died on Sept. 14.

Wally and Juliann Stock met at a wedding in Appleton. The pair married in January 1959 — 58 years ago.

"It was just a very fantastic relationship that they had where he was really just staying alive to take care of my mom," Barry Stock said. "Once she was gone, it was like, 'OK, now I can go.'"

Wally Stock moved out of his home to senior living in Savage. Barry Stock said he will miss having his parents so close by and being able to see them every day.

"I have always lived within a couple miles of my mom and dad," Barry Stock said. "(My mom) was very straightforward in telling people what she thought, which was always good for a laugh. My dad was more conservative, being a politician, a little reserved. I like to think I got a little bit of each of them."

A celebration of life service was scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Prior Lake. Wally Stock will be buried at St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery.