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Samuel J. Halloin
(1923 - )
1979 -1995
Sam Halloin was born on March 20, 1923 in Lincoln, Kewanee County to Louis Joseph and Laura W. (Thiry) Halloin. Sam had three brothers, Louis Jr., Frank and Sydney, and two sisters, Laura (Halloin) Knospe and Grace (Halloin) DeFrances.
Sam's father was a country doctor.When Sam was a year old, his father moved the family to Luxemburg in Kewaunee County. In those days surgery and child deliveries took place in the patient's home or in Dr. Halloin's home.
He added rooms to their home which provided his office, a waiting room for patients, an operating room and a drug or medical supply room. Since much travel in the early days of his practice was by team drawn buggy or cutter, they also had a barn with 8 horses. Dr. Halloin's wife Laura assisted during surgery and was for all practical purposes a full time nurse while raising her children.
Sam attended grade school and high school in Luxemburg where he was captain of the football and wrestling teams and played basketball. When he was 16, Sam often drove his father to house calls. He also did first aid, brought patients to his father's office for treatment and picked up dead bodies after serious accidents. After Sam graduated from Luxemburg High School in 1941, he attended vocation school in Green Bay and one semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked as a machinist apprentice at
West Bend Aluminum. Later he worked at his brother's medical laboratory in Chicago. Since he realized he would be drafted into the military, he returned home and worked in the Sturgeon Bay shipyards.
He entered the Army in February 1943, going through basic training in California, then he shipped overseas to Scotland in 1944. After a few days, his unit was sent to southern England. He landed at Normandy a few days after D-Day, June 6, 1944. Sam was a medic while serving with the 798th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, which fought through France to the Siegfried-Maginot Line and into Germany, then ending in Salzburg, Austria. One of the most difficult experiences he had was entering the Dachau Concentration Camp where he and other members of his company had to search 40 railroad cars of prisoners who had not been unloaded because of the battle. They found a few living in each car, but most were dead of starvation and mistreatment. More dead were found in the gas chambers. However, most of the dead were piled up like cord wood in many long lines waiting to be cremated or buried. Because of their experiences, Sam and his company went on leave to Paris, France, later rejoining the rest of their battalion in Salzburg, Austria. Sam was discharged from the service and returned home in 1945.
Sam's future wife, Isabelle Mastriocola was born December 2, 1925 in Red Granite, WI. She moved to Luxemburg to teach music in 1947 where she was director of the high school band. They married on June 18, 1949. In a few years, the young couple moved to Green Bay where Isabelle taught music in the Green Bay schools until her retirement. She also played French Horn with the Green Bay City Band for 50 years and with the Green Bay Symphony (now named the Green Bay Civic Symphony) for 40 years.
Sam and Isabelle had five children; Mary L., a music teacher; Ann C., a Nurse Practioner; Thomas J., a doctor of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Samuel J. Jr., who died at 11 years of age; and Elizabeth F. McDonald, a former member of the US Army Field Band, Washington D.C. who now resides in Naples, Italy.
Sam was elected to the Green Bay City Council and the Brown County Board having one interrupted term, then serving continously for 27 years from 1968 to 1979. He also served as Council President and County Board Chairman. In 1979 he was elected Mayor of the City of Green Bay and served for 16 years until retiring in 1995. He served on numerous committees, boards and commissions at the state and federal level. In 1987, he served as a United Nations Representative to China during the student uprisings there.
Some of Sam's accomplishments as mayor include:
Development of East Town mall and nearby Shopko store
Development of the new Beerntsen’s Candies on Broadway
Development of River's Edge Apartments, the first residential complex along the Fox River in Green Bay
Construction of river walks and boat docking along the river
Additional parking ramps and surface parking downtown
Construction of the Regency Conference Center along with the adjoining hotel and office building
Securing bonding for the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts
Securing Economic Development Bonds
Turning the stadium parking management over to the Packer Corporation
Turning over management of the Neville Museum to Brown County
The establishment of an independent School Board
Sam lives on the city's west side with his wife and enjoys not only his time with her, but also their children and grandchildren.