“He had a very long and distinguished service and he was a very fine man,” former Gov. Terry Branstad, who appointed Habhab to the Court of Appeals, said Sunday afternoon.

He described Habhab as a “great American.”

Current Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich said Habhab was a “steward of his community” who sought to make it better than it was when he took office.

“He did that with pride and success,” Bemrich said.

Bill Habhab, a Fort Dodge attorney and Webster County magistrate, had a more personal view of the former mayor and judge.

“He was just Uncle Al,” he said. “He was just a very warm, engaging man. He was always looking to the good of people. He was always looking to help people no matter the problem.”

World War II service

Albert Habhab was born Sept. 6, 1925, in Fort Dodge, to Moses and Hadea Habhab, two immigrants from Lebanon.

He graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High School on Jan. 21, 1944, and four days later entered the military for World War II service..

During the Battle of the Bulge, he rescued a wounded fellow soldier while under fire from the Germans.

He was assigned to Company C of the 346th Infantry Regiment, which was part of the 87th Infantry Division.

“Our division had moved up past Metz and Saarbrucken,” Habhab later said. “We woke up the morning of Dec. 16, 1944, as German 88s were firing on our position.”

Habhab was part of a group of soldiers advancing across a field when more artillery shells rained down around them. Pvt. Arthur M. Kingsbury was hit by shrapnel and wounded.

“He was behind me when he got hit — three of us ran to a grove of trees about 100 yards away,” Habhab recounted in a 1997 interview with the late Walt Stevens, editor emeritus of The Messenger.

“I looked back and saw that Kingsbury had been hit,” he said. “We could hear him shouting for help.”

“I told the others I was going back for him and asked them to cover me with rifle fire as best they could,” he added. “I removed my pack, took my rifle and rifle ammunition belt and the small packet they gave us for dressing wounds. Then I crawled on my belly to where Kingsbury was.”

Habhab made it to Kingsbury and put a dressing on a shoulder wound, then dragged the injured man to where the other soldiers were. As they inched along, the Germans opened fire, but none of the bullets found their mark.

Kingsbury survived, and he and Habhab got back in touch in the 1990s.

Habhab had a medical problem of his own while in the Army. He got gangrene in both feet. He recovered and was transferred to the Army Air Force to complete his service.

After the war, he attended Fort Dodge Junior College, then earned bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

He opened a law office in Fort Dodge in 1952. He married Janet Morse, and they had two children, Robert and Mary.

The mayor’s office

Habhab’s long career in public service began in 1956 when he became the Wahkonsa Township justice of the peace. That is a judiciary position that no longer exists in Iowa. Habhab held the role until 1959.

In the fall of 1959, he was elected to his first two-year term as mayor of Fort Dodge. He took office in January 1960 and would serve until 1974. His 14-year tenure was the longest in city history until Bemrich surpassed it this month.

“He was one of the most fair, intelligent mayors I ever worked with,” said former City Clerk Dennis Milefchik

He said Habhab was very well respected.

“He was very conscientious of the job and a great person to work with,” he added

When Habhbab took office, Milefchik was the deputy city clerk, When City Clerk Robert Clelland retired, he became acting clerk and then clerk.

A number of infrastructure changes took place during Habhab’s term. One of them was the construction of the bridge on First Avenue South, now called the Albert Habhab Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Other projects included the construction of the airport terminal and the firehouse, the creation of Williams Drive and the completion of the John W. Pray Water Treatment Plant.

Also during Habhab’s tenure, planning and zoning rules were put in place to guide the future growth of the city. The first computers were put to use in the Municipal Building while he was mayor.

Reflecting on his time as mayor, Habhab once told The Messenger, “It was just something I wanted to do, although I confess I didn’t ever intend to stay that many years.”

The judiciary

Habhab decided not to run for an eighth term as mayor. However, he was not out of public service for long. In 1975, he was appointed by then Gov. Robert Ray to be a district court judge for the district that includes Webster County.

As a young lawyer, Senior District Court Judge Tom Bice tried cases before Habhab.

“He was an excellent jurist,” Bice said. “He was always well-prepared.”

“He was an eloquent speaker,” Bice added. “He could make a point of law with you, a point of fact with you, and do it in the most eloquent terms.”

Members of the bar held Habhab in high regard, he said.

Bice said he was not surprised that Habhab was elevated to the Court of Appeals.

Branstad named him to the Court of Appeals in 1987. He said he picked Habhab because he “was very knowledgeable in the law and he had a very good record as a district court judge.”

He added that the judge was hardworking, conscientious and known for producing rulings in a reasonable amount of time.

“There is an old saying that justice delayed is justice denied,” Branstad said. “You didn’t have that problem with Judge Habhab.”

In early 1997, Habhab became the chief judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals. He retired on Sept. 6, 1997.

Bill Habhab said the way his uncle conducted business from the bench influences his work as a magistrate.

“I think I always liked his temperament,” he said. “He had a good temperament in his judicial matters. In that sense, he was an example.”

Albert Habhab did not disappear from public life entirely after retiring. In 2018, he served as the chairman of a committee that campaigned for passage of a bond issue that enabled Iowa Central Community College to pay for building improvements at its campuses.

“He worked his tail off to help us get that approved,” said Jim Kersten, the college’s vice president for government relations and external affairs.

Kersten said he had known Habhab for years because the judge and his wife were friends of his family.

He called Habhab a “strong leader in Fort Dodge and statewide.”

Bemrich said he called upon Habhab for advice several times since becoming mayor.

“He was always quick to give some insight,” he said.

Bemrich asked homeowners and business owners who display the American flag to consider lowering it to half staff to honor Habhab.

Bice interviewed Habhab for a veterans history project, and a court reporter made a transcript of the interview.

“I was just so impressed with the man,” Bice said.

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